Off-duty Georgia deputy found fatally shot in wrecked car

ATLANTA (AP) — Authorities found an off-duty sheriff’s deputy fatally shot early Thursday inside a wrecked car in the middle of an Atlanta road.

A passerby called 911 after spotting the car at about 4:30 a.m., Atlanta police Maj. Peter Malecki told reporters. He said police found the deputy in the driver’s seat, dead from a single gunshot.

Malecki said investigators believe the deputy’s Ford Fusion had been in a crash with another vehicle. The deputy’s car was the only one found at the scene.

The deputy’s name was not immediately released. Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat called the 24-year-old deputy “an outstanding young man” and said he had been assigned to the detention unit at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital.

“We personally recruited him from another police department down south, specifically because of the energy and his love for what he brought to our agency,” Labat said.