Police say the 19-year-old wore another school’s cross-country jersey before emerging from woods and confronting a runner during a Georgia meet.

NEWNAN, Ga. — A 19-year-old University of Georgia student faces a battery charge after police said he emerged from woods beside a high school cross-country course wearing another school’s team jersey, ran toward a competitor and attacked him during a race in Newnan.

Newnan police identified the suspect as Aiden Dombrowski of Newnan. The Sept. 26 confrontation interrupted a cross-country meet involving Coweta County high school runners and led officers to a nearby parking lot, where police said Dombrowski surrendered a short time after fleeing the course. Investigators later found the East Coweta High School cross-country jersey he had been wearing inside his vehicle. Police subsequently confirmed with the school system that Dombrowski had never attended East Coweta. Authorities have not publicly identified a motive for the confrontation, and the available police statements do not explain why Dombrowski allegedly chose the runner who was attacked.

The police response began at 7:59 a.m., when officers were sent to the area of 56 Sewell Road after a 911 caller reported an assault during the meet. Officers spoke with the runner and several witnesses after reaching the scene. According to the Police Department’s public account, witnesses said a male wearing an East Coweta jersey came out of the woods while holding rocks. Police said the man ran toward the victim, pushed him and struck him with his fists. The official account does not say that the rocks were used to hit the runner. That distinction is important because some later descriptions of the episode have characterized the rocks themselves as weapons.

Police said the runner defended himself during the confrontation. Dombrowski then left the racecourse and went back into the woods, according to the department. FOX 5 Atlanta reported that Dombrowski suffered a visible cut above his right eye during the encounter and that an ambulance was called to treat him after he reappeared. Authorities have not released detailed information about the high school runner’s condition, and police have not publicly identified the runner. The department’s account focuses instead on the sequence reported by the victim and witnesses and on the evidence officers said they recovered after Dombrowski surrendered.

The surrender occurred in a nearby parking lot, police said. By then, Dombrowski had changed clothes, but officers found the East Coweta cross-country jersey inside his vehicle. He was taken into custody and transported to the Coweta County Jail, where he was charged with battery. The charge is an accusation, and the public reports reviewed for this story do not establish that the case has been resolved in court. They also do not identify an attorney speaking on Dombrowski’s behalf. Newnan police have continued to describe the case as an investigation rather than offer a final explanation for what led to the confrontation.

Local reporting supplied another part of the timeline. FOX 5 reported that investigators said Dombrowski had driven from Athens, where the University of Georgia is located, to Newnan on the Friday night before the meet and slept in his car. He then attended the Saturday morning event wearing the East Coweta jersey, according to that report. Newnan police later confirmed that he was neither a current nor a former East Coweta High School student. The department has not publicly said how he obtained the jersey. That unanswered question has become one of several unusual details surrounding an encounter that began not in a parking lot or spectator area, but along the racecourse itself.

Dombrowski did have a background in high school distance running, though for a different school. FOX 5 identified him as a former Northgate High School cross-country runner, and an online recruiting profile also lists Northgate High School in Newnan as his school and cross-country as his primary event. The profile, created before the incident, lists Dombrowski as a member of the Class of 2026. That history helps explain why some people at the meet may have recognized him, but it does not establish why he was at the Newnan event or why authorities say he was wearing an East Coweta uniform. Police have made no public claim that East Coweta was involved in planning or authorizing his presence.

Body-camera footage reported by FOX 5 captured an additional dispute over what happened. When officers asked Dombrowski about the runner, he acknowledged knowing him but said they were not friends. He described the relationship as that of acquaintances and said there was “no bad blood” between them. FOX 5 also reported that Dombrowski characterized the encounter as a prank and denied striking the athlete. Police, however, said the runner and witnesses gave accounts indicating that Dombrowski initiated the physical confrontation. The differing versions leave investigators with both a factual question about Dombrowski’s explanation and a larger unanswered question about why he made the trip to the meet.

Lt. Josh Jordan of the Newnan Police Department told FOX 5 that investigators believed there had to be a reason for the unusual chain of events, pointing to the reported drive from Athens, Dombrowski’s overnight stay and the use of another team’s jersey. Authorities nevertheless have stopped short of assigning a motive. The Police Department’s public releases do not claim that investigators uncovered a feud, threat or prior dispute between Dombrowski and the runner. Dombrowski’s statement that there was no bad blood is therefore part of the record, but it does not answer why police say he left the woods and approached that particular competitor during the race.

The school connection added another layer of confusion. The jersey could initially have suggested a link to East Coweta High School, one of the area’s schools, but Newnan police said they checked directly with the Coweta County School System and established that Dombrowski was not a current or former East Coweta student. His reported background was instead at Northgate, another Coweta County high school. A school system spokesperson described the incident as bizarre in comments reported by FOX 5. Nothing in the released information suggests that the East Coweta team or its athletes were responsible for Dombrowski’s alleged conduct, and authorities have not said the jersey belonged to a current student.

For investigators, the remaining gaps concern intent and the events leading up to the moment witnesses described. The public record explains when officers were called, what witnesses said they saw, where Dombrowski surrendered and what officers found in his vehicle. It does not explain how long he was in the wooded area, how he selected the point where he allegedly entered the course, how he obtained the East Coweta jersey or what communications, if any, occurred between him and the runner beforehand. Police have not announced additional charges based on those unanswered questions. Their published update concentrated instead on confirming that Dombrowski had no enrollment connection to East Coweta.

The case also remains notable because the alleged violence occurred in the middle of a youth athletic competition, where an unfamiliar person wearing a team jersey could resemble one of the participants. Witnesses nevertheless identified Dombrowski to responding officers, according to FOX 5. Police then had the witness statements, Dombrowski’s surrender and the jersey recovered from his vehicle as they developed the battery case. The Police Department has not publicly released a complete investigative file, so accounts of the case should distinguish the department’s confirmed actions from details attributed to witnesses, investigators or Dombrowski himself. The battery accusation remains subject to the court process.

Dombrowski’s battery charge remains pending, and authorities have not publicly identified a motive for the Sept. 26 confrontation. The available police updates establish the arrest, the witness accounts and the recovery of the East Coweta jersey, but they do not explain why Dombrowski allegedly approached the runner or what he intended when he traveled to the meet.

Author note: Last updated Nov. 10, 2026.