Georgia fugitive who shot at police captured in Richland County, sheriff says

A Georgia fugitive wanted in connection with attempting to shoot a police officer was captured Wednesday in Richland County, the sheriff’s department announced Friday.

Julio Figueroa, 39, who had been on the run since Tuesday, was taken into custody Wednesday evening in northeast Columbia after an hourslong standoff, Sheriff Leon Lott said in a statement.

Figueroa, who allegedly fled police after shooting at an officer in Cobb County, Georgia, had traveled by Greyhound bus to Richland County and was staying with a family member on Summer Court in the Carriage Oaks subdivision, authorities said.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department’s special response team and fugitive task force went to the residence shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday, Lott said.

A female family member and her two young children were evacuated from the home, but Figueroa barricaded himself inside and refused negotiators’ attempts at communication for the next two hours, the sheriff said. Unable to negotiate a surrender, deputies resorted to using chemical munitions to force him from the home, Lott said.

Figueroa was taken into custody without incident and is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center awaiting extradition, according to the sheriff’s department.

A search of the home where he had been staying turned up evidence related to the initial incident in Georgia, according to the sheriff’s department.

Additional details regarding Figueroa’s run-in with Cobb County police were not immediately available, but Lott said he’s expected to face a slew of charges in Georgia, including aggravated assault of an officer with a weapon, first-degree burglary, possession of burglary tools, possession of a firearm by a felon and obstruction.