Crime & Safety

Suspected 'Cross-Dressing Bandit' Shot

After two unsuccessful manhunts this week in Marietta, the man wanted in the Halloween robbery of BB&T was caught in a standoff near Hiram.

Updated 3 p.m.

Marietta police say their investigation has found that McCrary spent time in Douglas, Henry, Paulding and Cherokee counties, as well as Cobb, while eluding capture for 10 days.

Original Report

The extended search for suspected “cross-dressing bandit” John Edward McCrary, 33, came to an end late Thursday when he was shot after a four-hour standoff inside a house near Hiram.

Paulding County sheriff’s deputies opened fire on McCrary in a bedroom at 33 Bollen Lane when he pointed a handgun at them, spokesman Sgt. Brandon Gurley said today.

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The man was taken by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition.

Charges in Paulding County are pending, and he faces robbery, aggravated assault and other charges in Marietta, Gurley said.

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McCrary is suspected of being the who robbed a BB&T branch in northeast Marietta on Halloween.

He and his alleged accomplice, Megan Haney, were spotted Tuesday in Marietta, prompting but not McCrary.

A man believed to be McCrary ate at a Waffle House in Marietta on Thursday, then pulled a gun and left without paying, prompting another unsuccessful neighborhood manhunt by , WSB-TV reported.

The Hiram standoff began about 8 p.m. when deputies responded to a report of a stolen vehicle at the home on Bollen Lane, near the intersection of Virgie Ballentine Drive and Boulder Run, just east of Bill Carruth Parkway and not far from .

The Chevrolet Suburban had been reported stolen from on Veterans Memorial Highway in Austell; the dealership tracked down the vehicle using GPS technology.

When deputies went into the house to ask about the stolen vehicle, McCrary pulled out a small-caliber handgun and threatened to kill himself, Gurley said.

“We try to talk the person down from the state of mind that they’re in,” he said.

The man remained in a bedroom with law officers outside the door throughout the four-hour standoff.

The gunman was visiting a recent acquaintance at the house, and that person and one other were quickly evacuated, Gurley said.

The SWAT team and a negotiator joined the standoff, which involved about 20 deputies, Gurley said.

He said McCrary was on an emotional roller coaster, sometimes calm, other times agitated and angry. At one point he put down the gun, but he didn’t give deputies room to grab it.

“The entire time he was threatening to kill himself or have us kill him,” Gurley said.

Shortly before midnight, McCrary pointed the gun at deputies, who opened fire before he could pull the trigger, Gurley said.

He said it appears that two deputies fired no more than three shots, all of which hit the man.

As it always does with shootings involving officers, the Sheriff’s Office has turned the investigation over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.


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