US authorities charged a man with murder on Friday in the shooting death of two sheriff’s deputies who were serving an arrest warrant on another person outside a suburban home near Atlanta. Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer told reporters at a press conference that deputies were trying to arrest a man wanted for burglary in the driveway of his home Thursday night when another man confronted them with a gun. An exchange of gunfire ensued when the gunman refused orders to drop his weapon, VanHoozer said, and both deputies were fatally wounded. The shooting suspect and the man with the outstanding warrant were arrested after a standoff with officers who swarmed the neighborhood. The two slain deputies were identified Friday as 42-year-old Jonathan Koleski and 38-year-old Marshall Ervin. “They were outstanding men, men of character and integrity, family men who were loved by their families and loved by their children,” Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens said at a news conference. Both men arrested at the scene made their first court appearances on Friday afternoon. Christopher Golden, 30, was charged with two counts of felony murder and two counts of aggravated assault against law enforcement officers. Christopher Cook, 32, was not charged in the murders. But he was booked on six pending theft charges. Both men declined to be linked. It was not immediately known if they had lawyers. VanHoozer declined to elaborate on what happened during the standoff that ended with the two men arrested, the home’s front door off the frame and windows broken. He said no more shots were fired after the deputies were shot and no other officers were injured. The sheriff had previously told reporters that his deputies had been “ambushed.” On Friday afternoon, he deferred questions about the shooting to the county police chief, whose agency is handling the investigation. VanHooser said police tried to provide what they knew during an “ongoing investigation” in which they still had limited information. Asked if he would call the shootings an ambush, VanHoozer said, “What I just gave you are facts. I’m not going to characterize it.” With more than 760,000 people, sprawling Cobb County is just northwest of Atlanta and one of the most populous counties in Georgia.
