Intruder with machete shot, killed by homeowner, DeKalb police say

An intruder armed with a machete was shot Thursday morning when he broke into a north DeKalb County home, police said.

The man was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. While he has not been positively identified, investigators believe he lived next door to the home he’s accused of breaking into in the 3300 block of Northlake Trail in unincorporated Doraville.

He was shot by a homeowner after breaking several windows, DeKalb police Lt. Rod Bryant told AJC.com.

“We don’t know what kind of contact, what kind of relationship they had,” he said. “We’re getting information that this guy just came uninvited and tried to break inside the residence, and we are still trying to conduct an investigation to find out why.”

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Police were called by the homeowner around 5:30 a.m. It was not the first time officers went to the neighborhood that night.

Bryant, who works with the department’s homicide unit, said officers were sent around 1 a.m. to check out a report of a man “screaming at the top of his lungs.” They never found the man, he said, and they did not meet with any neighbors once they were on scene. 

“We don’t know if that was related,” Bryant said. 

Investigators are still trying to determine if the break-in was criminal in nature or if it was some kind of mental episode.