Murder Suspect Arrested Following 2-Hour SWAT Standoff

A man wanted in connection with an early August home invasion murder was arrested Thursday after a two-hour SWAT standoff in Lawrenceville.

The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office said Devon Jenkins refused to come outside, then barricaded himself in a Bedford Bay Lane home with four young children and a woman inside.

He eventually surrendered and no one was hurt.

Jenkins is one of six suspects wanted by Duluth Police for the Aug. 6 home-invasion murder of Adam Schrier, and shootings of a woman and child. He is being held without bond at the Gwinnett County Jail on several charges, including murder, aggravated assault and armed robbery.

According to a sheriff’s office news release, SWAT team members secured the woman and two of the children, then made contact with Jenkins on his cell phone. An armored personnel carrier was used to communicate with him after his cell phone died.

Negotiators eventually talked Jenkins into releasing the other two children, ages 3 and 4, and he was taken into custody.

Schrier, 37, was shot and killed in his Summercrest Lane residence in Duluth around 6 a.m. on Aug. 6 as he struggled with two home invaders. A woman, Jamie Smith, 31, and an 8-year-old girl were wounded in the attack. Both had non life-threatening injuries.

Police said drugs may have played a role in the attack.

“The crime is believed to have been motivated in illegal narcotics,” Duluth Police said in a news release last week. “The crime appears to be targeted and was not an act of random violence.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last week the motive was to steal a quantity of drugs from Schrier. According to an arrest warrant, Jenkins was believed to be the triggerman.

(Photo: Devon Jenkins. Gwinnett County Jail mugshot)