According to Cobb Police, the shooter, a "disgruntled" former Penske employee, entered the parking lot of the facility around 1:30 p.m., opened fire on several people, killing two men and critically injuring three more.
Police say the man, dressed in camouflage and armed with a handgun, first confronted someone in the parking lot, and then proceeded into the facility through the ground level and continued to shoot throughout the main floor and truck bay area. Police believe he never ventured to the second floor of the building, where the offices are located.
Police said the lone gunman fled the scene in a red Chevy S-10 pickup truck and headed north. He was arrested about 10 minutes later at the intersection of McCollum Parkway and Duncan Road, about a mile away from the Penske Rental facility.
"A traffic stop was initiated on his vehicle, by several officers, and the suspect was taken into custody without incident," Cobb Police spokesman Officer Joe Hernandez said.
It remained unclear as of press time who the victims were. Names were not released as of late Tuesday pending family notification. A Penske spokesman told the Associated Press that four victims were employees and the other was a customer. Hernandez said the customer has a commercial account with the business and has handled a lot of business with Penske in the past. Hernandez said all the victims were males.
According to police, one victim died on the scene and another died shortly after being transported via ambulance to WellStar Kennestone Hospital. The three other victims were still in critical condition at that hospital as of press time, according to police.
Police were not able to confirm how many people were in the building during the shooting, and were still questioning several eyewitnesses late into the night.
Several 911 calls were made from the building during and after the shooting and it was believed that the suspect was still in the building when the initial call was made.
Not much is known about the Warren or his history with Penske. Police reported that he worked for Penske for several years, but were unclear on the dates of his employment or why or when he left. He currently lives in Temple, Ga., about 40 miles west of Atlanta on I-20. The Cherokee Tribune called a phone number listed to a Jesse J. Warren on North Highway 113 in Temple, but there was no answer.
Warren was still being booked into Cobb County Jail as of press time.
The local Penske business has been at its location since August 2000, according to its business license, Cobb officials said.
Police believe this was an isolated incident.
"I do want to emphasize to the community at-large that this is not an incident the community needs to be further worried about," Hernandez said. "Everything was contained here and the one suspect that was involved is in custody. There's nothing else to worry about as far as additional suspects."
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