The Newton County Sheriff’s Office issued an Amber Alert late Thursday night after three children were taken by their father after a domestic dispute in their home, Newton County Sheriff’s Investigator Jeff Alexander said Friday morning.

The incident started around 5 p.m. Thursday at the apartment of the children’s mother on Salem Glen Way. The father, 37-year-old Leroy Coleman, hit, punched and stabbed his wife twice in the back, Alexander said.

After dropping his wife off in Atlanta, in the vicinity of Grady Hospital, Coleman took off with the family’s 2002 Black Ford Expedition with the children in the car.

Around 1 a.m., Alexander said, DeKalb County Police located Coleman and the children at a Walmart on Panola Road. The children were reportedly found with no injuries and were turned over to their grandparents.

Coleman was arrested and charged with aggravated assault out of Newton County and was transported to the Newton County Detention Center.

As of Friday morning, Newton County jail staff had not finished processing Coleman and his criminal mug shot was not available, Alexander said. 

The injuries to the children’s mother were non-life threatening and she is listed to be in fair condition at Grady Hospital in Atlanta.