Rockdale deputy killed while serving warrant

A Rockdale County sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Saturday while trying to serve a warrant as part of a rape investigation, authorities said.

Deputy Brian Lamar Mahaffey was among several deputies who entered a house on Sand Hill Road south of Conyers as part of the investigation, according to published reports.

A suspect in the investigation – identified as Terry Brown – was apparently waiting inside a bedroom closet. When a deputy started to open the closet door, Brown opened fire, according to ajc.com. Authorities returned fire, killing Brown.

Mahaffey was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of the shooting, according to reports. After the shooting, Mahaffey – an undercover officer with the sheriff’s department’s Narcotics and Vice Unit – was taken to Rockdale Medical Center where he died.

“We are all in shock,” WGCL-TV quoted Rockdale County Sheriff Jeff Wigington as saying. “We haven’t had anyone killed in the line of duty in our lifetime and we are here to support his family anyway we can.”
Another deputy was also shot, but his injuries weren’t life-threatening.