Crime & Safety
UPDATE: Jamie Hood Surrenders
We give you a moment by moment blog on the search for the man accused of murdering ACC policeman Buddy Christian.
We are posting news of Jamie Hood as it comes in:
UPDATED, March 27: Athens-Clarke County Police believe Hood may be linked to the killing of an Athens-Clarke County employee, The Athens Banner-Herald reports. One of those involved in the alleged car-jacking knew the worker who was killed.
Midnight: More details emerge from another conference with GBI head Vernon Keenan and other law enforcement officials. The negotiations began at 3:40 and continued until 11:15. Hood's concern was for his own safety. He wanted to surrender but feared for his life. He threatened to start blasting if his demands weren't met. Hood viewed a televised surrender as a life insurance policy. "We have been on a roller coaster ride of negotiations," Keenan said. Turns out there were nine hostages, not eight. All of them are safe, and Hood is in custody.
Find out what's happening in Athensfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
11:50: Hostages are safe and have been taken to the Clarke County jail. Hood was agitated when he left the house, police said.
11:20: Murder suspect Jamie Hood has surrendered to law enforcement officials.
Find out what's happening in Athensfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
10:19: Jamie Hood says to law enforcement officials that he wants to surrender on television. WXIA is anointed as the station to bear witness. When he plans to do this is anybody's guess.
10:05: GBI Director Vernon Keenan announced on live television moments ago that Hood has released four people unharmed. He said officials have a good rapport with Hood and that he knows Hood is concerned for his safety. "I want to promise him that if he will surrender unarmed, that he will not be harmed in any form or fashion," Keenan said.
8:00: Police have surrounded the apartment where accused gunman Jamie Hood has barricaded himself and are currently in negotiations to release eight people inside the apartment with him.
The others Hood is barricaded inside with, according to Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, “are not free to leave.”
Police are in communication with Hood.
“It is our objective to have the safe release of the persons that are in the apartment with him and then to have the safe surrender of Mr. Hood.”
Keenan said the eight people with Hood are safe at this time.
The Creekstone apartment is located off Boley Drive just north of the Bypass (Loop 10) in Athens off 441.
Hood is accused of shooting 34-year-old Senior Police Officer Elmer “Buddy” Christian around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday after allegedly severely wounding senior police officer Tony Howard at the Cascades on the River apartment complex off Sycamore Drive.
“This is a very tense situation but we have a commitment to see the safe release of those persons and the safe surrender of Mr. Hood,” Keenan said.
7:50: ACC Police confirm that Jamie Hood is holed up in a house on Boley Drive with hostages in the house. Negotiations are underway.
6:46: There's a meeting at Central Baptist Church at 7:15 with police.
6:26: Police are focusing on a duplex apartment about 1000 feet from the intersection of Boley Drive and Commerce Rd (U.S. 441). It's in the Creekstone apartment complex just off Boley.
5:50: An ambulance with the lights flashing just left the vicinity of Boley Drive.
5:59: A resident of the area said he believes a woman and two children live in the apartment off Boley Drive where Jamie Hood is said to be holed up.
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