Cobb Police Thwart Attempted Burglary at Wells Fargo

UPDATE 5 p.m. CBS Atlanta reports that the man Cobb police say attempted to rob a Smyrna Wells Fargo early Sunday morning has been charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools and possession of a firearm by a felon.

The suspect was identified as 31-year-old Walter Jones of Atlanta.

ORIGINAL STORY Cobb County police thwarted an attempted bank burglary at a Wells Fargo located on Windy Hill Road early Sunday morning.

Police aren’t identifying the man they say attempted to steal from the bank, but Public Information Officer Dana Pierce said he is 31-year-old male from Atlanta. The man told police he is homeless, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday police received a call from the bank’s alarm service notifying them that there was movement inside the Wells Fargo located at 2675 Windy Hill Road. Initially the officer who responded to the scene did not identify an intruder, but while he was filling out paperwork in the parking lot the alarm service notified police that they observed the man inside the bank.

Pierce said the SWAT team, bomb squad and property crimes investigators were dispatched to the scene.

“Our guys were going to use a robot to get in to let him know that we were out there, which he did anyway because we saw him peek out the window,” he said. “At about the time they started to breach the door to go in is when he probably figured that we meant business and he started to talk to one of our SWAT team representatives out on the scene on a bank phone and they ended up taking him into custody at about 7:53 this morning.”

Pierce said the Atlanta man faces several charges including property damage to the inside of the bank.