Robbery Suspect Kills Girlfriend, Himself After Hours-Long Standoff

The suspect in a gun and cash robbery killed himself and his girlfriend late Saturday night after hold police in an Atlanta suburb at bay for hours.

Michael Reno, 38, was wanted for taking $18,000 in cash and about $20,000 in firearms from his brother’s home in Paulding County, WXIA reported.

Just before 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon, police in Marietta noted a car with stolen license plate parked on Amy Drive and approached the car. When they did, the driver ran inside a home on the street and refused to come out.

Investigators called in SWAT teams from Marietta Police and the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, and they learned the driver was Reno, a “person of interest” in the Paulding County theft.

For the next several hours, investigators tried to negotiate Reno’s surrender, while evacuating close-by neighbors, WAGA said.

Shortly after 10 p.m., they flew a drone into the house. A half hour later, officers broke into a bedroom in the back and found Reno dead on the floor, surrounded by weapons. A woman, 38-year-old Courtney Dobberson-Watts, was dead next to him.

Family members said Dobberson-Watts was renting the house and in a relationship with Reno.

Police said the incident appears to be a murder-suicide.

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[Featured image: WSB screenshot. Inset: Michael Reno/Marietta Police Department]