Cobb County investigators have not said what they believe led a 57-year-old man to fire several shots during an hourslong standoff at his home.
But Superior Court records show Donald Terry Welborn’s wife of 26 years filed for divorce Tuesday afternoon, hours after the incident started at the couple’s east Cobb home.
Welborn fired shots in the direction of eight police officers during the standoff, according to his arrest warrant. Tuesday afternoon, he was arrested and charged with eight felony counts of aggravated assault on a police officer and three misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct, Cobb police said. Welborn was being held without bond Wednesday at the Cobb jail.
No injuries were reported during the incident, which lasted most of the day at Welborn’s Kingsley Drive home. Around 5:30 a.m., officers were called to the Marietta-area home after a neighbor reported hearing gunfire, according to police.
“Several shots were fired both inside and outside the home,” Sgt. Wayne Delk said at the scene.
Police placed the Newcastle subdivision on lockdown while negotiators worked to resolve the situation, Delk said. Neighbors were told to stay inside during the incident.
Welborn’s wife was in the home when the standoff began, his warrant states.
“Said accused entered the bedroom where the victim was sleeping and discharged a firearm into the ceiling fan,” Welborn’s warrant states.
But when officers arrived, she was no longer in the home, Delk said Wednesday.
Investigators believe Welborn’s shots hit a neighbor’s home on Kingsley Drive and a home on nearby Vinyard Court.
After SWAT team officers negotiated for about seven hours with Welborn, the standoff ended shortly after noon, according to police. Investigators then searched the home for explosives, but did not locate any, Delk said.
This incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons Unit at 770-499-3945.
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