Two men were charged Friday a day after a pair of Georgia sheriff’s deputies were fatally shot while attempting to serve a warrant.
Christopher Cook and Christopher Golden were charged and made their first court appearances at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on Friday, according to the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.
Golden was charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer and two counts of murder in connection to the shooting, Cobb County Police Department Chief Stuart VanHoozer said at a Friday news conference.
‘HEARTS ARE BROKEN’:Suspects in custody after 2 Georgia deputies killed in ‘ambush’
Cook has not been charged in connection with the shooting but faces the original theft by deception charges from the warrant the deputies were executing, VanHoozer said.
On Thursday, deputies Marshall Ervin Jr. and Jonathan Koleski were attempting to serve a warrant at a residence in Marietta, a Georgia city just northwest of Atlanta, for failure to appear for theft by deception, VanHoozer said.
While the deputies attempted to take Cook into custody in the home’s driveway, VanHoozer said a suspect later identified as Golden confronted them with a weapon. Authorities declined to identify the weapon that was used in the shooting.
VanHoozer said the deputies told the man to drop the weapon but he did not.
Then, during an exchange of gunfire between the man and the deputies, both officers were struck and later died from their injuries, VanHoozer said.
Both Golden and Cook surrendered to police after a “brief standoff” with law enforcement, VanHoozer said.
Cobb County Sheriff Craig D. Owens previously called the shooting an “ambush.”
“It’s very simple,” Owens said at a Thursday news conference. “My two deputies were ambushed this evening and killed.”
Ervin, 38, joined the sheriff’s office in 2012 and was married with two children, Owens said Friday. Koleski, 42, joined the office in 2007 and was also married, he said.
Owens called the deputies “outstanding men, men of character and integrity.”
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.