ACWORTH, GA- An investigation is underway after a 26-year-old man was fatally shot in an officer-involved shooting in Cherokee County on Saturday evening. The incident also left a sheriff’s deputy with injuries. State law enforcement agents are now investigating what started as a welfare check in a quiet Cherokee County neighborhood quickly escalated into the deadly situation.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the agency is leading the investigation into the fatal Saturday shooting at the request of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. The GBI will act as an independent body and hand their findings over to the local district attorney’s office after the investigation is complete.
Preliminary information released by the GBI indicates on Saturday, October 25, 2025, around 7 p.m., a deputies with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a welfare check at a home on Whisperwood Trail in Acworth. Deputies arrived to the residence and made contact with 26-year-old Andre Alvear, of Acworth, Ga.
The GBI says, Alvear briefly spoke with the deputies at the front door of the residence and then shut the door of the home. Alvear is then reported to have reopened the door and lunged at one of the sheriff’s deputies with a knife. During the incident the deputy was hit in the face. Reports indicate Alvear continued to chase the deputy as they attempted to retreat.
The two deputies on the scene fired shots at Alvear, striking and killing him. Later Cherokee County sheriff’s deputies entered the home and located the body of a deceased female upstairs in the home. The female’s body and the body of Alvear will be transported to the GBI Crime Lab, where an autopsy will be performed.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing by the GBI. Upon completion of their investigation into the officer-involved shooting the GBI will provide their findings to the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review. The injured deputy was treated and released from a local hospital and is expected to recover from injuries sustained in the incident.
The woman that was found deceased in the home has been identified as the mother of Andre Alvear. She has been identified as Luisa Penetra. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office will investigate the death of Penetra. The sheriff’s office reports Penetra’s body was in a state of decomposition when they located her in the home.
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