Snellville Man Arrested in Shootout With Cops

A Snellville man has been arrested in connection to an overnight shooting in Atlanta that involved police officers. 

Marcellus White, 26, of Snellville, and Derrick Newell, 38, of Atlanta, were arrested and each charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of reckless conduct. They were taken to Fulton County Jail. 

According to Atlanta Police Officer Kim Jones, at approximately 11:54 p.m. on Thursday, two off-duty Atlanta police officers were working extra jobs in full police uniform, and were seated in a marked APD vehicle in the nearby Zaxby’s parking lot at 425 Ponce De Leon Ave.

After hearing multiple gunshots coming from the area of Parkway Drive, the officers observed a black, four-door sedan backing northbound (towards Ponce de Leon Ave.) on Parkway at a high rate of speed.

According to Jones, one or more of the occupants was firing a gun in the southerly direction (towards North Avenue) that the sedan was backing away from. As the occupants observed the officers in their car, one or more of the occupants turned their guns in the direction of the officers and began firing.

After the officers returned fire, the sedan stopped and the shooting ceased. The officers were then able to take into custody two of the three occupants, Newell and White, in the sedan.

No one was hit by gunfire according to the police. It is unknown at this time what sparked the shootings.

The area has a history of violence, drugs and prostitution. This past September a person was shot at an apartment at the intersection of North and Parkway, which is in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. Earlier this year, one man was killed and another critically injured during a shootout at the nearby North Plaza strip center.