Carroll County deputy shot, injured while executing search warrant

Days after a Paulding County sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed in the line of duty, a Carroll County Sheriff’s Office deputy was shot and injured Tuesday morning while executing a search warrant, authorities said.

Investigator Taylor Bristow was flown to Grady Memorial Hospital in “very critical condition,” according to spokesperson Ashley Hulsey. “From what I understand, it was a bullet that struck him in the face,” Hulsey said.

Bristow, who has been with the department for six years, underwent surgery and was in the hospital’s intensive car unit Tuesday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said. An update on his condition was not provided Wednesday.

Credit: Carroll County Sheriff's Office

The suspected shooter is dead, Hulsey said. His identity was not released, and it was not clear if any law enforcement officers returned fire. That information would come from the GBI, which is investigating the shooting, she said. The state agency has not provided an update Wednesday morning.

“I don’t believe this was an ambush situation,” Hulsey said late Tuesday. “I think it was just a situation where they were trying to execute a search warrant, and things went south.”

The warrant was related to a GBI investigation into child sexual exploitation, according to the sheriff’s office. No other details have been released about the case.

“Just pray,” Hulsey said. “That’s all we can ask for, is just pray for our deputy. Pray for our department, pray for his family, and pray that nonsense ends. You know, our deputies put on a gun and a badge and a vest every day, and they never know if they’re going to make it home, and I think that’s something that really sticks with all of us.”

The incident happened around 8:30 a.m. in the area of Don Rich Drive, a dead-end road near Walker Lake that is just south of Carrollton.

“Our community has a lot of love for our local law enforcement, so it just kind of strikes everybody,” Hulsey said, adding that she just spoke with a neighbor who “had tears in his eyes, saying that his family’s praying for the deputy, so we know that he’s loved. I hope he can feel that. I just hope he pulls through.”

On Saturday evening, Paulding County Deputy Brandon Cunningham was fatally shot while responding to a domestic dispute in the Harmony Creek neighborhood off Virgie Ballentine Drive. Shots were fired at the first two deputies who arrived at the home, officials said. Cunningham, 30, was struck and died at a hospital, Paulding County Sheriff Gary Gulledge said.

The wife of the alleged shooter had also been shot but was able to escape, officials said. She later returned to the home while deputies were still at the scene and was taken to a hospital, where she was said to be stable.

The alleged shooter, James Samuel Atkins, was found dead inside the home late Saturday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

The GBI is investigating both incidents.

HOW TO HELP

Anyone who would like to help Bristow and his family can make an online donation to the West Georgia First Responders, a non-profit that supports first responders in that area. It is the only legitimate donation site connected to the deputy and his family, the sheriff’s office said.

— Staff writer Alexis Stevens contributed to this article.

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