A deputy sheriff described as a hero was shot and killed Saturday night while responding to a domestic dispute in northwest Georgia, officials said.
Paulding County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Cunningham was “ambushed” when he and another deputy were called to a domestic dispute in Hiram, Georgia, a city near Atlanta, the sheriff’s office said in a news release Sunday. The two deputies immediately came under fire when they arrived at the scene around 6:13 p.m. Saturday.
“Cunningham was shot as he exited his patrol car. He did not even see the threat before he was executed,” the sheriff’s office said. “Gunshots continued to be fired from inside the home, leaving his partner unable to render aid.”
Additional officers arrived at the scene but were unable to reach Cunningham due to the “hail of gunfire,” the sheriff’s office added. Cunningham was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The incident marks the first time the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office has lost a deputy in the line of duty, Major Ashley Henson said at a press conference Saturday evening.
The male suspect, identified as James Samuel Atkins, 42, was found dead at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the sheriff’s office. A female victim injured at the scene was identified as Kim Thao Vu, 52, the suspect’s wife.
“Tonight we lost a hero,” Paulding Sheriff Gary Gulledge said at Saturday’s press conference. “Deputy Brandon Cunningham passed away from a gunshot wound in the emergency room here in Paulding.”
“I ask you to keep this family in your prayers. Everyone, even if you’re not in this district, I ask you to pray for this family – both the blood and the blue,” Gulledge added. “Everyone here is suffering. Our entire staff is suffering.”
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Shooting remains under investigation
The sheriff’s office said Vu tried to leave the house immediately after Cunningham was shot. She was then shot by Atkins and taken to an Atlanta-area hospital in stable but serious condition.
Officers later arrived at the scene in an armored vehicle and were able to remove Cunningham from the scene and place him in an ambulance. “It is with great sadness that we can confirm that Deputy Cunningham was pronounced deceased at the hospital later that evening,” the sheriff’s office said.
Several SWAT teams from the metropolitan area also arrived at the scene to arrest the suspect. According to the sheriff’s office, they entered the apartment with armored vehicles, robots and drones. There they discovered Atkins, who “had apparently taken his own life, with one gunshot wound apparently self-inflicted,” according to the sheriff’s office.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident.
“Brandon was a great deputy”
Cunningham is the first deputy sheriff to lose his life in the line of duty since the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office was established in 1834, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Cunningham, 30, left behind two children, according to Gulledge. He began his career with the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office in 2020 and was part of the uniform patrol division for about two years, Henson said.
“Brandon was a great deputy and a hard worker. My heart breaks for his family, friends and our co-workers,” Gulledge said in a statement Sunday. “This senseless act of violence will never be understood.”
The sheriff’s office said a memorial patrol car was placed outside the office for the public to leave flowers and condolences.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia deputy sheriff shot and killed during domestic dispute
