A friend sent Cherokee County deputies to check on a woman she wasn’t able to reach, but when they arrived, the woman was already dead, investigators said.
Before deputies left the Acworth-area home, her son was also dead, killed by deputies he chased with a knife, according to the GBI.
Deputies arrived at the Whisperwood Trail home for the wellness check around 6:45 p.m. Saturday, according to Capt. Jay Baker with the Cherokee sheriff’s office. The residence is near the intersection of Bells Ferry and Alabama roads.
Credit: Alexis Stevens
Credit: Alexis Stevens
Andre Alvear, 26, opened the front door and briefly spoke with deputies, but then shut the door, investigators said Tuesday. When he opened the door again, Alvear lunged at one of the deputies with a knife, hitting the deputy in the face.
“Alvear chased the deputy with the knife as the deputy retreated,” the GBI said in a news release. “Both deputies then shot Alvear, killing him.”
Baker said one of the deputies was injured and taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, where he was treated and released.
After the gunfire, the sheriff’s office said deputies smelled “an odor of decay” and found the body of an adult woman upstairs in the home.
“Due to the advanced stage of decomposition, it is unknown how the female died,” Baker said in a statement.
Detectives believe and evidence suggests the woman is Alvear’s mother, Luisa Penetra, 61, of Acworth, Baker said Tuesday. He noted the GBI is still working to “forensically identify” her. Property records show she owned the home.
The GBI is conducting autopsies on both Alvear and the woman, the agency said.
The GBI was asked to investigate the shooting, while the sheriff’s office will look into the death of the woman, Baker said.
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