Crime & Safety
Murder Suspect Tracked Down, Takes His Own Life
Police say Ohave Whitfield shot himself in the head after eluding police.
The man wanted in connection to the murder of a Lawrenceville woman at a child's birthday party has reportedly taken his own life.
Gwinnett County Police say Ohave Whitfield was tracked down by U.S. Marshals in DeKalb County Friday. The marshals were about to take Whitfield into custody at about noon. Instead, Whitfield took off in a car driven by another person.
The driver made off for a short distance before stopping at a parking lot at Wesley Chapel Road and Snapfinger Woods Drive in Decatur.
According to GCPD Cpl. Jake Smith, that's when Whitfield pulled out a handgun and shot himself in the head.
Whitfield was taken to Grady Hospital by ambulance and pronounced dead around 1:15pm.
No one else was injured. Smith says the driver of the vehicle is cooperating with investigators.
Whitfield was a suspect in the murder of 53-year-old Alicia Johnson of Lawrenceville on Sunday. Her adult daughter was also shot, but survived. Whitfield's estranged wife made the 911 call from the child's birthday party on Crystal Lake Drive in unincorporated Lawrenceville. She was not injured.
Police at one point believed Whitfield may have been headed to Shreveport, La., where he has family.
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