Harris offered condolences to the slain officer’s family.
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Smith returned fire, and the suspect fled the scene, USA Today reported.
The officer leaves behind two sons, a daughter, a stepson and his fiancée, Chelsea Clark.
Even so, in April, according to court records, Deeds, 24, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for a sentence that included time served in jail and five years of probation. Authorities said an unidentified suspect is being sought and an investigation is ongoing.
– A south Georgia police officer was shot and killed Saturday night. Whitley said Smith, who was not wearing a body camera, called in the shooting. Hospital where he later died of his injuries. They are advising citizens to not approach Deeds, but to call authorities.
“After the driver and passenger were detained, a search of the auto revealed Royheem Deeds was hiding in the trunk of the vehicle”, Leeper said.
He is the second Georgia officer to be shot dead this year. When Smith got to the location, authorities say he got out of his patrol auto to investigate and had a conversation with Deeds. Both of the suspects in the break-in and police shooting were juveniles. He would have turned 32 Monday, according to a Facebook post for an organization called True Blue Warriors. Besides Rigdon, the town’s only full-time officer is Smith’s father, Lewis Smith.
Rigdon said the younger Smith may have been quiet, but he was “stern in his abilities to keep the weak from being oppressed”.
The man accused of shooting and killing a Georgia police officer, Royheem Delshawn Deeds, 24, has been captured in Florida.
Nassau County, Florida is almost a three-hour drive from Telfair County, Georgia.
He was 31 years old and is survived by three children. Taken into custody with him, were his sister Franshawn Shanae Deeds, who was driving the getaway vehicle, and Jamil Mitchell, who was a passenger.
Authorities said Deeds killed Eastman patrol Officer Tim Smith about 9:30 p.m. Saturday in a residential area of that city, which is about 60 miles southeast of Macon.
The officer was shot once as he got out of his patrol auto, and returned fire as Deeds fled the scene, according to a statement.
Details of Deeds’ arrest were not immediately available.
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Smith, a 2009 graduate of the ABAC police academy, joined the Eastman Police Department in 2011.
