Off-duty Fulton County Deputy James Thomas was shot and killed early Thursday while driving on Bolton Road in the Riverside neighborhood of Atlanta.
The driver of a van spotted Thomas driving erratically at about 4:30 a.m. and tried to pass him, 11 ALIVE reports. While in the process of passing Thomas, the van driver heard gunshots, and a collision ensued, after which both Thomas and the van driver crashed.
Thomas was discovered inside his vehicle with a fatal gunshot wound.
FOX 5 Atlanta notes that police are unsure whether Thomas was shot before he crashed or afterward. They “are still looking for the shooter.”
Atlanta police investigator Peter Malecki said, “Right now, we do not know if the shooter was a pedestrian on foot or if he was perhaps in another vehicle.”
A reward of $30,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the shooter.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.