Investigators tell WRBL the suspect, William Randall Franklin, 33, allegedly opened fire on Cauthen and the driver without warning as they approached Franklin's home to seek help.

CHAMBERS COUNTY, Ala. -- A man fatally shot a fire battalion chief and wounded the driver of a car that hit a deer in rural Alabama, authorities said.

A resident in the area opened fire on Battalion Chief Bart Cauthen and the driver as they walked up his driveway for help.

A man accused of killing a Georgia fire chief who’d stopped to help a driver who struck a deer has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting, a police official said Tuesday.

James Cauthen, a 54-year-old fire chief with Coweta County Fire in Georgia, was shot and killed while helping drivers who hit a deer in Alabama.

We lost one of our brothers, leaders, mentor, and family to a senseless tragedy,” Cauthen’s colleagues wrote in a Facebook post.

A Georgia fire chief was shot dead after stopping to help motorists who had hit a deer in Alabama. A man who lived nearby now faces murder charges.

A fire battalion chief from Georgia was killed in a roadside shooting that injured two other people in Chambers County on Sunday night, the sheriff’s office said. “We lost one of our brothers, leaders, mentor, and family to a senseless tragedy,” the Coweta County Fire Rescue Department posted on Facebook last night.

A Georgia fire chief was shot to death in Alabama after stopping to help a couple whose car struck a deer, officials said.

A fire chief died in Alabama ... scene," the Chambers County Sheriff's Office said. "The deceased victim is identified as James Bartholomew Cauthen, 54 years of age from Moreland, Georgia ...

A Georgia fire chief was shot to death in ... Police said he was helping the couple Sunday in Chambers County, Alabama. Chambers County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Parrish told WRBL Cauthen walked ...

On Tuesday, friends, family and the community at large will say goodbye to a Coweta County fire official who was shot and killed in Alabama last week.