Following a Sunday standoff at a Suwanee apartment complex for suspects wanted in connection to a double homicide, Gwinnett Police SWAT discover both suspects suffering from self-inflicted wounds.
Gwinnett Police were in the standoff with the suspects,19 year old Johnny Ryder and his 17 year old girlfriend, Cassandra Bjorge since early this morning. The suspects barricaded themselves inside the apartment of a friend in the 800 building at the Residences at McGinnis Ferry on McGinnis Ferry Road near Peachtree Industrial Boulevard,
The investigation began when family members asked police to perform a welfare check at a Furlong Run home in Lawrenceville for 63 year old Wendy and Randall Bjorge, the grandparents of one of the suspects, after family members apparently hadn't heard from the couple living there in "some time," said Detective D.C. Smith.
There was no response to the welfare check, but Smith stated there was no forced entry to respect the privacy of the residents.
"At some point (Saturday) night (the suspects) went to one of the suspect's other family's location and assaulted two people there, who were transported to the hospital," said Smith.
Furlong Run is near Jackson Elementary School, off of Sever Road in Lawrenceville.
"When officers got to that scene, they were not able to locate Bjorge or Ryder but did locate a vehicle. Officers ran that vehicle's tag and it came back to the grandparents (Wendy and Randall Bjorge) of Cassandra Bjorge," said Smith.
"When we had this incident at the home of the assault where we found the vehicle, we decided to go back to the Bjorge home to do another welfare check. This time we did force entry to the home where we located Wendy and Randall Bjorge deceased upstairs in their home in an obvious homicide."
At that point, Smith said both Cassandra Bjorge and Johnny Ryder where "clear" suspects to the double homicide.
"At the time we did not know their location, but detectives worked through the night to develop leads that eventually led to us to 4000 McGinnis Ferry Road at the Residences at McGinnis Ferry Apartments in the city limits of Suwanee. There we were able to confirm that the suspects were in fact there," Smith said.
The residence is the home of a friend of Ryder's, unknown to the crimes, according to Smith.
Officers attempted to make contact and the suspects refused to exit the apartment. The Gwinnett County SWAT team was activated. After a short time, the SWAT team made entry into the home and located the suspects suffering from self-inflicted wounds.
"They were cutting wounds, they used at least one knife, we do not how severe their conditions are. When we made entry into the room, they were not deceased but were not conscious at the time," said Smith.
SWAT was able to make entry to the residence with a robotic device according to Smith.
No charges for the homicides have been obtained and the manner of death and motives are still unknown pending further investigation.
