On April 4th, at approximately 6:41pm, officers were dispatched to 600 S Marietta Pkwy in reference to a carjacking that had occurred at the gas pumps. Upon officer’s arrival, it was determined that suspect, Lan Weddington, approached the victim acting as if he had a gun in his pants and said “I will blow your brains out” while demanding the keys to the victim’s 2002 Corvette. The victim complied, gave up the keys and Weddington fled the scene in the victim’s car. MPD officers saturated the area and were able locate the Corvette on Merritt St. Officers observed Weddington walking away from the Corvette and appeared to be fidgety. As officers proceeded to make contact with Weddington, he jumped on top of a nearby vehicle, pushed his hands down into his pockets and swiftly removed and pointed his hands at officers, as if to simulate having a gun. When officers did not immediately take action towards Weddington, he acted as if he was having a medical emergency. MPD officers then surrounded Weddington and were able to place him into custody without incident. Weddington was transported to Kennestone Hospital due to his current state and was later transported to Cobb ADC.
During the encounter with police Weddington’s family had arrived on scene. Weddington’s wife witnessed the actions of her husband and praised MPD officers for not shooting him. It was believed that Weddington was attempting to be shot by police.
Marietta Police Department would like to thank the officers that were on scene during the time of this incident. Many of MPD’s officers have been through Crisis Intervention Training over the past year to be educated on how to deal with mentally unstable persons. These officers showed a perfect example of restraint and understanding for Weddington , because of their measured response, the officers were able to get him into custody without anyone being injured.