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ALAMO, Georgia – A Georgian police officer was shot dead outside a police station during his first shift with the department early Saturday, authorities said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Officer Dylan Harrison, 26, was shot dead by Damien Anthony Ferguson outside the Alamo Police Department. Ferguson, 43, went on the run on Saturday night, despite launching a big manhunt.
Officials did not immediately say what sparked the shooting in Wheeler County, about 90 miles southeast of Macon.
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“Officer Harrison was a part-time police officer from Alamo who was on his first shift with the department last night,” GBI spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said at a press conference, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She said Harrison was also a full-time Oconee Drug Task Force officer in neighboring Dodge County.
Tributes poured in for Harrison, who lived in Laurens County and is survived by his wife and 6 month old son.
“Our heartfelt thoughts, prayers and condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Officer Dylan Harrison who was killed in the line of duty last night at the Alamo,” wrote the Sheriff of the Telfair County, Sim Davidson, in a Facebook post. “We are sincerely grateful for his service.”
Harrison was the first Alamo officer killed in the line of duty, according to Officer Down Memorial Page who tracks law enforcement deaths. In January, Alamo police officer Arturo Villegas died of complications from COVID-19.
Governor Brian Kemp and the Georgia Department of Public Safety sent condolences to the officer’s family and colleagues in tweets on social media site Twitter.
“May God continue to be with all who protect and serve,” Kemp wrote.
At least five Georgian officers have been killed in the line of duty this year, and nearly two dozen more have died from Covid-19, according to the memorial page. Seven Georgian officers were killed in the line of duty in 2020.
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