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Armed man shows up to confront wife, is killed with fire extinguisher, GA cops say

A dispute between an estranged married couple ended with a man dead, Georgia police said.
A dispute between an estranged married couple ended with a man dead, Georgia police said. Getty Images/iStockphoto

A man was killed when he showed up with a gun to confront his estranged wife in Georgia, authorities said.

Officers responded at about 11:40 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, after reports of a shooting at the Cortland Peachtree Battle apartments in Atlanta’s Buckhead community, according to a news release from the city’s police department.

They found a man with head injuries on the ground outside the apartment, according to police. Officers said he wasn’t “alert, conscious, or breathing” and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities haven’t released his identity.

“The deceased individual arrived at this location, started an altercation, which led to him dying at the scene,” Andrew Smith, a homicide commander with Atlanta police, told WANF.

Investigators said the man was armed and went to the apartment to confront his estranged wife. Police said the two were “going through a divorce.”

Authorities said they don’t know how he got into the building, according to WSB-TV.

The woman’s family members were at the home during the dispute and tried to disarm the man. His gun went off during the scuffle, but no one was hurt, police said.

The fight escalated and the man was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher, causing fatal injuries, according to authorities.

Officials have ruled the incident a “justifiable homicide.”

McClatchy News reached out to the Atlanta Police Department for more information June 12 and was awaiting a response.

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This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 4:06 PM.

Tanasia Kenney
Sun Herald
Tanasia is a service journalism reporter at the Charlotte Observer | CharlotteFive, working remotely from Atlanta, Georgia. She covers restaurant openings/closings in Charlotte and statewide explainers for the NC Service Journalism team. She’s been with McClatchy since 2020.
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