Name of Accused:
Armstrong, Andrew Chester
Date of Arrest:
10/11/2024
Charges For Arrest:
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT
BATTERY-FAMILY VIOLENCE (1ST OFFENSE)
CRIMINAL TRESPASS
OBSTRUCTING OR HINDERING PERSONS MAKING EMERGENCY TELEPHONEL
Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]
On 10/11/2023, at approximately 12:40am, Deputy Weaver responded to [40 BLOCK] Thomas way in reference to a Domestic Dispute. While en route, 911 advised Deputy Weaver and responding units, that the child heard his dad hitting his mom, and heard his dad say “I’m going to put a bullet in your skull”, and heard the sound of the gun clicking numerous times. Deputy Weaver and other responding units upgraded their response to lights and sirens.
Deputy Weaver arrived on scene and observed numerous lights on in the house. While running up the driveway Deputy Weaver heard a female screaming “Stop hitting me”, “You are going to kill me”. Due to exigent circumstances, Deputy Weaver decided to make forced entry and kicked the front door in. Deputy Weaver made entry into the house and started giving loud verbal commands for both parties to come out of the bedroom and show him their hands. After numerous attempts, Deputy Weaver continued further into the house with his duty weapon drawn. A female appeared around the corner, and Deputy Weaver stated “Show me your hands”. The female immediately put her hands up and stated “You guys are missing him; he almost killed me, he just went out the back window and he’s running through the yard”. Deputy Weaver told Deputy Nowlen to stay with the female and children while he attempted to locate the male.
As Deputy Weaver exited the house, he observed Deputy Mcbrier pulling into the driveway. As soon as Deputy Mcbrier got out of his patrol car, Deputy Weaver advised him the suspect climbed out the back window and was currently running through the back yard. Deputy Weaver rounded the corner, jumped over the side fence and observed the suspect running through the backyard and climbing over the back fence. Deputy Weaver began pursuing the suspect and shouted “Stop running and show me your hands”. The suspect continued to run and ignored Deputy Weavers loud verbal commands. Due to the yard being poorly lit, Deputy Weaver and Deputy Mcrbier lost visual of the suspect as soon as he jumped over the fence. Deputy Weaver began scanning the area with his flashlight to try and locate the suspect. Deputy Mcrbier shouted “I’ve got him over here, show me your hands and get on the ground”. The suspect took off deeper into the woods. Deputy Weaver and Deputy Mcbrier climbed over the fence and began to pursue the suspect but lost visual again.
Deputy Thompson and Deputy Mcbrier began to search the woods for the suspect while Deputy Weaver began communicating with Lieutenant Curtis the current situation and what was going on. Deputy Weaver advised 911 to page the drone team out for additional support. Deputy Weaver advised other Deputies to start setting up a perimeter. Lieutenant Curtis called the on call K9 out and established command.
While other Deputies and Newnan PD began setting up the perimeter, Deputy Weaver and Deputy Nowlen walked the victim and her two kids down the driveway, and had them sit in their patrol vehicles to get them out of the house.
Deputy Weaver asked the female victim [REDACTED BY AGENCY] what happened tonight. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated “It’s a really long story, a lot has happened”. Deputy Weaver advised her he had all night, and it was really important that she start from the beginning and not leave out any details. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said that her husband and her had been drinking since about 7:00pm, but everything was going great and they were cutting up and laughing. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said around 9:30pm, her husbands (Andrew Armstrong) demeanor changed and he started becoming verbally abusive to her and calling her inappropriate names. Deputy Weaver asked [REDACTED BY AGENCY] how he was being verbally abusive and what names he was calling her. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said he is extremely racist and he told her “She was a dik sucking Niger love”, “She loved big black niger dik”, and told her to go choke on a “Niger Dik and Kill herself”.
[REDACTED BY AGENCY] advised Deputy Weaver she grabbed her cell phone, walked out the front door and went to her best friend’s house three doors down hoping he would calm down and go to bed. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said while she was at her friend’s house, Andrew called her numerous times and texted her to come home and that she wasn’t allowed outside the house. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said she eventually got tired of Andrew blowing her phone up so she decided to go home and try to go to bed. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said as soon as she walked into the house, Andrew stated “I bet you were out fuking Nigers, and taking black dik”. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said she ignored him and started walking to the master bedroom. As [REDACTED BY AGENCY] was walking down the hallway towards the master bedroom, she said Andrew grabbed her by the back of her neck, and pushed her into the bedroom, and slammed the door. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] then said he pushed her onto the bed, took both hands, wrapped them around her neck and started choking her where she couldn’t breathe. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said he kept one hand on her neck, punched her in her right eye numerous times, punched her in her mouth, and then punched the right side of her face numerous times. [VICTIM #1] said while he was hitting her, she begged him to stop, and started screaming for help. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said Andrew stated “This is what you get for liking Nigers, I’m going to kill you”. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said Andrew released her neck, walked to the safe, unlocked it and pulled out a black handgun. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said he walked back over to the bed, took his left hand, wrapped it around her neck, started to strangle her and then pushed the barrel of the gun to her right forehead and stated “Now I’m going to kill you”.
[REDACTED BY AGENCY] begged and pleaded with Andrew not to kill her and to think about the kids sleeping in the rooms next to them. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said Andrew became even more enraged, started to choke her even more, and pressed the gun against her forehead even harder. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said she heard numerous clicks like he was pulling the trigger but the gun never fired or went off. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said Andrew got off her, went to the nightstand, yanked the TV off, threw it against the floor and started smashing it with his fists and numerous other solid objects around the room. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said Andrew also destroyed numerous items of hers she had on the nightstand and pictures that were hanging on the wall. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] advised Deputy Weaver that she screamed “Someone call 911”, but as soon as she said that Andrew began choking her again and punching her in the face.
[REDACTED BY AGENCY] grabbed her phone and tried to call 911, but Andrew grabbed it out of her hand and threw it against the wall before she was able to press the call button. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said after a few more minutes she heard beating on the front door and someone say “Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, open the front door or I’m going to kick it in”. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said as soon as Andrew heard that, he held his hand over his mouth and told her to “Shut her fu*king mouth, or he was going to kill her”. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said all of a sudden, she heard the front door get kicked in, and a Deputy start screaming to come out of the bedroom and show him their hands. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said as soon as Andrew heard that, he grabbed the gun off the bed, and escaped through the back bedroom window. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said she opened the bedroom door, and immediately walked down the hallway and met a Deputy in the entrance way.
Deputy Weaver observed numerous injuries on [REDACTED BY AGENCY] face and neck. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] had a small laceration above her left eye, and her left eye was starting to swell shut. Deputy Weaver also observed [REDACTED BY AGENCY]’s right cheek to be severely swollen with numerous small lacerations surrounding it. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] also said her bottom lip was swollen and it had numerous cuts on the inside. Deputy Weaver looked at [REDACTED BY AGENCY]’s bottom lip and observed it to be swollen, pulled her lip down, and Deputy Weaver observed numerous small lacerations on the inside of her lip.
Deputy Weaver instructed [REDACTED BY AGENCY] to raise her head, so he could see her neck. Deputy Weaver observed numerous strangulation marks around her neck consistent with being strangled by a set of hands. EMS was called out to the scene to evaluate [REDACTED BY AGENCY] EMS arrived on scene, and advised [REDACTED BY AGENCY] she needed to go to the hospital to get checked out but [REDACTED BY AGENCY] denied transport and said she would be okay, she didn’t have time to go to the hospital.
While [REDACTED BY AGENCY] was being evaluated by EMS, Deputy Weaver talked to [REDACTED BY AGENCY]’s younger son [REDACTED BY AGENCY] who originally called 911. Deputy Weaver asked [REDACTED BY AGENCY] what happened. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] told Deputy Weaver he didn’t see anything, because he locked himself in his room because he was scared of his step dad, but he heard everything. Deputy Weaver asked [REDACTED BY AGENCY] what he heard. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said he heard his step dad punching and hitting his mom in the bedroom, yelling/cussing at her, and his mom screaming for help. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said before the police came, he heard his step dad say “I’m going to put a bullet in your skull”, and then heard the gun click numerous times but never heard a gunshot. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] said he was scared his stepdad was going to kill his mom, she he called 911.
While Deputy Weaver was speaking with the victim and witness, Lieutenant Curtis was coordinating the Drone Team and K9 Deployment to locate the suspect. The drone located a heat signature beside a power box in a field. The drone pilot directed the K9 to the area, who located the suspect under a pile of brush. K9 was deployed and the suspect was apprehended. The suspect walked out of the woods under his own power and was transported to Piedmont Newnan Hospital for treatment and medical clearance. The suspect was then transported to the Coweta County Jail and was booked.
Victim was given a case card for victim remedies and resources.
[End of Narrative]