An Atlanta couple is dead and the woman’s son is in custody for their murders after police responded to a call for a welfare check and ended up in a standoff.
Police identified the dead couple only as a 80 year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, but a woman who identified herself to WSB as the man’s daughter said they were Marvin Spencer and Henrietta Russell.
She said she had requested the welfare check after being unable to reach her father or Russell.
Police said they arrived at the apartment on Atlanta’s West End at about 3 p.m. on Friday and met with Russell’s son, who threatened to harm himself before retreating inside the apartment and barricading himself.
According to WAGA, the man — whose identity has not been released — refused to let the officers inside. Officers reported smelling a foul odor from inside as well.
Police brought in negotiators and eventually talked the man into coming out after an hours-long standoff. He was taken to the hospital with self-inflicted cuts.
Once police got inside the apartment, they found the dead couple — and also a woman who had been held hostage at knifepoint. Police said she was unrelated to any of the people in the apartment and had met the suspect earlier in the day at a nearby transit station.
Spencer and Russell were pronounced dead at the scene, but police could not say how long the couple had been dead. APD Lt. Andrew Smith said they had paid their rent a week earlier.
The suspect is expected to face murder charges as well as assault charges for the woman he held hostage when he is released from the hospital.
