Man In Marietta Bank Standoff Identified

MARIETTA, GA -- A man who held authorities at bay for several hours inside a Marietta Wells Fargo has been identified as 33-year-old Brian Easley, according to news reports. Easley was a Marine who served in Kuwait and Iraq, local media reports. Easley was killed Friday afternoon by law enforcement in the hours-long standoff that paralyzed the area around Windy Hill Road and Interstate 75.

In the middle of the situation, Easley called WSB-TV, telling them that he didn't want to hurt anyone nor did he want the bank's money. (To get notified of more local news like this, click here to sign up for the Marietta Patch. Or find your Atlanta-area town here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

“I was stationed at Camp Lejeune for four years. I only did four years in the Marine corps, and when I got out I moved to Georgia," he told a WSB-TV producer, the station reports. "I moved in with my parents. They were living in Jefferson, Georgia at the time. That’s where I met my ex-wife.”

Read more: Marietta bank standoff ends in man's death

Easley's relatives told local media that the incident is not in line with the person they knew and loved.

"This is not the Brian I know," Jazzima Damons told WAGA-TV. "He would not hurt nobody, nobody."

"Our family is just in shock right now because the Brian they are saying that went up in this bank, that is not him, he is a very loving person," Sierra Damons was quoted as saying.

Authorities have not released a motive for the standoff, but Easley claimed that he was homeless and that the Department of Veterans Affairs owed him money. The TV station said that he had to be escorted out of the VA Medical Center in DeKalb County earlier this week.

The standoff began early Friday shortly after the bank opened, Cobb authorities said.
"We received the call at 0932 hours from a male who stated that he was inside the Wells Fargo Bank located at 2675 Windy Hill Road in Marietta, Georgia," Cobb police spokeswoman Alicia Chilton told Patch. "The male is still inside the bank, with employees (unknown how many at this time) and has made general threats."
No one inside or outside the bank was ever at risk of being harmed, she said.

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