2-Year-Old Boy, Suspect Thy Anh Ho Die from Wounds following 19-Hour Standoff

A 2-year-old boy and his father, who police said held the toddler hostage for nearly 20 hours, have died from their injuries, police announced Wednesday evening.

Police said they rushed the 2-year-old boy from the Gwinnett County home to a medical helicopter waiting nearby, and then flown to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston just before 5 p.m. Wednesday. The boy was in critical condition at the time, suffering from at least one gunshot wound, according to police. The boy later died at the hospital.

Police said the suspect shot 2-year-old Phillip Nguyen and then himself

Police said a SWAT team was inside the home when they heard gunshots coming from the master bedroom where 43-year-old Thy Anh Ho had barricaded himself along with the toddler. Police said they found Ho and the toddler suffering from gunshot wounds. Police did not immediately know what led Ho to open fire.

Thy Anh Ho

Ho was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center where he later died.

Police said no other shots were fired and none of the SWAT team members were injured.

Police said they believed Ho, who is described as a convicted sex offender, was armed and barricaded himself inside the house leading to the SWAT standoff. The neighborhood where the drama unfolded went on lockdown late Tuesday night.

Detectives said around 10 p.m. Tuesday, a woman was inside a home on the 1700 block of Beyers Landing Drive with several of her children. One of her sons called 911 from another location saying a man was threatening to kill everyone in the house, which is located in the Beyers Landing subdivision in the northe part of the county. 

Police arrived and blocked off the entire neighborhood. Investigators said the man allowed the woman and three to four other people to leave the house, but kept his son with him.