Following the fatal shooting of a police officer Saturday night, a manhunt was launched in central Georgia.
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Royheem Delshawn Deeds has been arrested and charged with the murder of Georgia police officer Tim Smith. Leeper says deputies searched the vehicle and found Royheem Deeds in the trunk. Nassau deputies spotted a vehicle matching that description about 1 a.m. south on USA 1 in Hilliard. His father, Glenwood police officer Lewis Smith, said in a phone interview Monday his family’s “hearts are just broken”.
The murder of Smith came one day after a New Mexico police officer, Jose Chavez, was shot to death in a traffic stop.
Smith was fatally shot about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, in a residential area of the city located about 60 miles southeast of Macon, Ga.
Officials confirm the man wanted for fatally shooting a Georgia police officer is in custody.
“A deputy observed the vehicle traveling southbound, and called another deputy and they both stopped the vehicle”, Leeper said.
Smith leaves behind a fiancee, two sons, a daughter and a stepson. Officer Smith exited his patrol auto to investigate and was shot by the individual.
Deeds, 24, was subsequently arrested in Nassau County, Florida, and booked into jail at the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office about 3am on the morning of August 15, reports the Daily Mail.
“Officer Smith arrived in the area and encountered an individual”. Smith wasn’t wearing a body camera, Dutton said, but he had a dash camera mounted on his patrol vehicle.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says that Tim Smith had three children and would have turned 31 on August 15. Prior to that, the Facebook page for the department offered a $15,000 reward for his arrest and citizens were told not approach him because he is considered armed and risky.
The sheriff says Deeds’ sister, 22-year-old Franshawn Deeds, was driving with one passenger, 32-year-old Jamil Marquis Mitchell.
That’s when Deeds pulled out a gun and shot Smith.
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Eastman, the county seat of Dodge County, is home to about 5,500 residents.
