Name, photo released of deputy found shot to death in his car, reward amount raised to $30K

ATLANTA — The Fulton County Sheriff’s Workplace has named Deputy James Thomas as the person discovered shot to dying in a crashed automotive on Thursday morning.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat mentioned in a information convention Thursday afternoon that Deputy Thomas was off responsibility and in his private car when he was shot.

Labat mentioned Thomas had been with the sheriff’s workplace for lower than a 12 months and was a part of the Grady Detention Unit. Labat described the 24-year-old deputy from Mississippi as “the lifetime of the occasion.”

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“He was an impressive younger man. We personally recruited him from one other police division down south particularly due to the power and his love for what he dropped at our company,” Labat mentioned.

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Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach was first on the scene Thursday on Channel 2 Motion Information This Morning when authorities had been blocking the intersection of Bolton Street and Peyton Street.

Police instructed Gehlbach that somebody crashed into the deputy’s automotive sooner or later throughout the incident after which drove away. And simply after 4:30 a.m., officers responded to a capturing on the intersection.

Investigators mentioned it’s unclear who shot Thomas and it’s unclear if the capturing occurred earlier than or after the crash.

Investigators mentioned somebody got here ahead and reported being concerned in a automotive crash with the deputy, however they don’t imagine that particular person had something to do with the capturing.

“We don’t know if the shooter was a pedestrian or if he was in a car,” Labat mentioned.

Police are nonetheless looking for the shooter.

Crime Stoppers of Higher Atlanta has elevated the reward quantity to $30,000 for data within the deputy’s dying.

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