By Margaret Kates
al.com
COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — A fire battalion chief from Georgia was killed in a roadside shooting that injured two other people in Chambers County on Sunday night, the sheriff’s office said.
“We lost one of our brothers, leaders, mentor, and family to a senseless tragedy,” the Coweta County Fire Rescue Department posted on Facebook last night.
James Bartholomew Cauthen, 54, was killed Sunday evening, off County Road 267 near U.S. Highway 431 in Stroud, according to a Facebook post from the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office said deputies were dispatched around 5 p.m. to deal with a traffic incident involving a deer.
The deputies found three individuals with gunshot wounds. Cauthen was dead by the time officers arrived, police said.
The Chambers County Sheriff said Cauthen had stopped to assist people who had hit a deer while traveling on County Road 267. A nearby resident then shot at Cauthen and the person who hit the deer.
“All individuals were injured during the shootout,” the sheriff’s office Facebook post said.
The shooter has been identified by the sheriff’s office as William Randall Franklin. The individual that struck the deer, as well as Franklin, were transported to the hospital for treatment of their injuries.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Franklin following his release from the hospital, according to the Facebook post.
Cauthen, who lived in Moreland, Ga., was a battalion chief with the Coweta County Fire Rescue Department.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the Cauthen family as they go through this difficult time,” the fire rescue department said on Facebook.
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