UPDATE - (Lawrenceville, Georgia, June 13, 2013)  Sgt. Jason Teague underwent a second surgery Tuesday, June 11, 2013.  The procedure was a bone graft to further repair damage in Sgt. Teague’s left forearm.  Bone was taken from his hip and grafted onto the damaged area of the radius bone, which was shattered by the hostage taker’s bullet.  Barring unforeseen circumstances, further surgeries should not be necessary.  Sgt. Teague’s doctors estimate that he still has four to five months of recovery and rehabilitation before he will be able to return to active duty.

Prior to the surgery yesterday Sgt. Teague had returned to work in a “light duty” capacity.  This included instruction at the academy where he was again able to share his knowledge and experience with new recruits.  He was also able to meet with his fellow SWAT Team members on several occasions as they analyzed and reviewed the events of April 10, 2013.  The team takes the opportunity to learn from every SWAT call, regardless of the outcome or how successful it was considered.

The DFIT investigation is still considered open, which prevents Sgt. Teague and other members of the SWAT Team from publically discussing the incident.  I will issue an advisory when the investigation is closed and take requests for interviews at that time.

UPDATE - (Lawrenceville, Georgia, April 16, 2013)  The officer injured during the hostage rescue on April 11, 2013 was Sgt. Jason Teague.  Sgt. Teague is the senior tactical team leader for the Gwinnett County Police Department SWAT Team.  He was fired upon by the hostage taker during the rescue operation.  One of the shots struck Sgt. Teague in the left forearm.  He underwent surgery and was allowed to return home on Saturday, April 13, 2013.  Doctors feel that he will make a full recovery and are hopeful that he will be able to return to duty in a few months.

Sgt. Teague began his career with the Gwinnett County Police Department in 1996.  He became a member of the GCPD SWAT Team in 2002.  He has served in several positions on the SWAT Team including entry team, sniper team, and sniper team leader.  He has been the senior tactical team leader since 2011.  GCPD’s SWAT Team is a volunteer team, meaning that the members have other full-time responsibilities.  Sgt. Teague’s current full-time position is as a supervisor of the K-9 Unit.  He previously served for five years as a full-time firearms instructor at the GCPD Academy and continues to teach at the Academy on a part-time basis.  Sgt. Teague also attends and conducts numerous training events outside of the department each year.  His skill and expertise with firearms and tactics are internationally recognized.

As a member of the SWAT team, Sgt. Teague participated in the capture of courthouse shooter Brian Nichols in 2005.  Following his shooting spree, Nichols barricaded himself in an apartment in Gwinnett County.  The SWAT team ultimately took Nichols into custody.  Sgt. Teague was the officer who actually placed Nichols in handcuffs.  He later testified at Nichols’ trial.

Sgt. Teague makes his knowledge, abilities, and experience available to the department in many ways, making GCPD a better department in the process.  His efforts contribute both directly and indirectly to making Gwinnett County a safer community.

ORIGINAL RELEASE - (Lawrenceville, Georgia, April 11, 2013)  The Gwinnett County 911 Center received a call from Lauren Brown (white male, 55 years old) at 3:41 p.m. on April 10, 2013.  Brown lived at 2440 Walnut Grove Way, Suwanee, Georgia.  The home is located in unincorporated Gwinnett County.  He told the call taker that he was having a medical emergency and requested help.  Five EMT/Firefighters from the Gwinnett County Fire Department (GCFD) responded to Brown’s residence, arriving at 3:48 p.m.

The responding GCFD personnel encountered Brown in his bedroom, lying in bed.  He seemed to be suffering from a condition that restricted his movement.  At about 3:54 p.m. Brown produced a hand gun and held the fire department personnel at gunpoint.  Gwinnett County Police Department (GCPD) officers began responding at that time.  The first officer arrived on scene at 4:05 p.m. and a SWAT team call out was initiated at 4:07 p.m.  Officers quickly created a security perimeter around the house.

Contact was established with Brown via the firefighter’s radio.  He relayed demands to police through the radio via one of the hostages.  He would continue to do so for most of the incident.  One of Brown’s initial demands was that the responding fire truck and ambulance be moved from in front of his house.  Brown released one of the hostages to move those vehicles as the first police officer arrived at 4:07 p.m.  This left a total of four hostages still inside.  Brown relayed his other initial demands via the hostage’s radio:  1) that power be restored to his house, 2) that his cell phone be reactivated, 3) that his internet and television be restored.  Each of these demands was accompanied by a deadline.  The utilities were not deactivated by police.  As officers contacted the utility companies, they found that each of the accounts had been deactivated for nonpayment.

Members of GCPD’s Crisis Negotiation Team made contact with Brown and attempted a negotiation.  He repeated his initial demands and said that more demands would follow, however, he flatly refused to release additional hostages.  In an effort to buy time for negotiations and tactical planning, the initial demands were met.  Over the course of the incident, several more conversations took place between Brown and negotiators.  During these conversations, Brown continued to refuse to release his hostages.  He also refused to participate in any conversation that did not address his demands.  Brown repeatedly told negotiators that he was in control and the police were not.  At about 5:15 p.m., Brown demanded that officers bring wood and tools to his home and board up his windows and doors.  He gave a deadline of 7:30 p.m.  At about 6:30 p.m. Brown made a demand for food to be delivered to the house, for himself and his hostages.

While negotiations were ongoing, the SWAT Team and the Hazardous Devices Unit (HDU) began preparing a rescue operation.  A plan was put in place to enter the house and rescue the hostages should negotiations fail.  As the 7:30 p.m. deadline approached, negotiators became convinced that Brown would not release the hostages even if his demands were met.  The decision was made to proceed with the rescue plan rather than comply with the demand to further barricade Brown’s house.

Just before 7:30 p.m. SWAT officers moved into position to begin the rescue plan.  At the request of negotiators, Brown allowed two of the hostages to leave the bedroom to retrieve the food delivery.  SWAT officers approached the house under the guise of delivering the food.  The rescue plan was initiated as the 7:30 p.m. deadline expired.  Rescue teams made up of SWAT officers entered the house from various points, deploying noise-light diversion devices.  The two hostages that were allowed to leave the bedroom were quickly evacuated.  The SWAT officers yelled verbal commands to Brown as they entered his bedroom.  Brown did not comply with the verbal commands and immediately began firing shots at the first officer to enter the bedroom.  The first officer was struck in the left forearm by one of the shots.  The injured officer returned fire, striking and killing Brown.  No other officers fired their weapons.  The two remaining hostages took cover in the bedroom and received only minor injuries.

The injured officer was evacuated to a waiting ambulance.  He was treated at the scene by EMTs and transported to Gwinnett Medical Center.  His injuries were considered non-life threatening. The officer underwent surgery this morning (4/11/13).  He is expected to make a full recovery.  The four evacuated hostages were also transported to Gwinnett Medical Center with minor injuries.

After the incident was concluded, officers learned that Brown had prepared chairs, ropes and tape in order to further restrict the hostages’ movements.  After interviewing the hostages, officers learned that Brown claimed to have been planning this event for several weeks.  He told his hostages that he targeted fire fighters rather than police so that he would not be shot when he attempted to take hostages.  Brown never made his ultimate goals clear to the hostages or to negotiators.  He did express a desire for his family to witness what was happening.  A total of 6 guns were located in the house.

This incident is currently under investigation by the Deadly Force Investigation Team (DFIT).  DFIT is made up of members of the Homicide Unit, Crime Scene Unit, District Attorney’s Office, and Medical Examiner’s Office.  A concurrent investigation is being conducted by the Internal Affairs Unit.