Police: Lawrenceville Woman Tells Bank She Has Explosives in Car

A woman was admitted into the hospital for mental health issues after she allegedly gave a bank teller a note saying explosives were in her car.

According to the Gwinnett County Police report, the incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. Valentine's Day at the Fifth Third Bank, located at 870 Lawrenceville Suwanee Rd. in unincorporated Lawrenceville.

The complainant told police that the suspect, later identified as 35-year-old Lawrenceville resident Christina Alston, went into the bank to give the note to the teller.

Officers positioned their patrol cars in the roadway to block traffic and establish a perimeter, and Gwinnett County Explosives Unit responded. The team searched the vehicle, but no explosives were found.

At the scene, the suspect tried explaining to police that she was being followed and was in danger. Her son, a 15-year-old student at Collins Hill High, told a slightly different story. He told police that his mother had been under a lot of stress lately, and her behavior changed in the past few days.

She would sit in her car listening to the radio for hours because she was hearing voices in the radio, he said. His mom's condition recently escalated: That morning she said she thought the voices in the radio told her she had explosives in her car.

Alston told officers that she would voluntarily ride in the ambulance to Gwinnett Medical Center for a mental health evaluation. When she arrived at the hospital and was released to the staff, though, she became fearful and belligerent. Hospital security personnel placed her on a stretcher to better restrain her.