Georgia · Meriwether County · Crime & Courts

Warm Springs, GA Officer Chris Fisher Killed in Meriwether County; Jimmie Steverson Found Dead in Anderson County, South Carolina

A Warm Springs police officer was shot and killed outside a Spring Street motel late Tuesday night, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says. The 23-year-old named in a Blue Alert hours later was found dead Wednesday afternoon in South Carolina after a traffic stop near Interstate 85.

By Kate Thompson Published Sept. 2, 2026, 8:45 a.m. ET Updated Sept. 2, 2026, 8:10 p.m. ET 9 min read Update

What happened outside the Meriwether Country Inn?

A police officer was shot and killed outside a motel in Meriwether County late Tuesday night. The man the Georgia Bureau of Investigation named in a Blue Alert the next morning was found dead in South Carolina that afternoon.

The bureau puts the shooting at about 11:57 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1.

It happened outside the Meriwether Country Inn, a motel on Spring Street, Atlanta News First reported.

Fisher was sitting in his patrol car at the motel, working a traffic stop that had nothing to do with what followed, the GBI said. The driver of a Chevrolet Silverado pulled up beside the patrol car and fired several shots.

Investigators later identified that driver as Jimmie Lee Steverson, 23.

Three agencies worked the scene through Wednesday morning: Warm Springs police, deputies from the Meriwether County Sheriff’s Office and GBI agents, WSB-TV reported.

Who was Officer Chris Fisher?

Chris Fisher was 36.

He served with the Warm Springs Police Department, the city force inside Meriwether County.

How did the search for Jimmie Steverson end?

The GBI opened a Blue Alert on Wednesday morning naming Steverson in the officer’s death. The alert listed a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado carrying the tag DEJ2082, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.

It was over by late afternoon. Steverson was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in Anderson County, South Carolina, the GBI said.

The bureau spells his name Jimmie Lee Steverson; several outlets spell the first name Jimmy.

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What did the Anderson County sheriff say?

Anderson County deputies picked up a lookout notice from Georgia at around noon Wednesday about a man accused of killing a Georgia officer, Sheriff Chad McBride said, WRDW reported.

Deputies spotted a vehicle matching what Georgia investigators had circulated in the area of Interstate 85 and pulled it over.

Steverson was in the back seat. He was taken to a hospital, and the county coroner’s office confirmed that he had died.

Deputies detained the person who was driving that vehicle.

McBride offered condolences to Fisher’s family, his friends, his fellow officers and the Warm Springs Police Department.

Had Chris Fisher and Jimmie Steverson met before?

Five days before the shooting, they had. Fisher arrested Steverson on Aug. 28, according to the warrants from that arrest.

The felony charges included obstruction, possession of a firearm during the attempted commission of a crime, and marijuana possession.

Those are the August warrants. They are not murder warrants, and the GBI has not tied that arrest to a motive for Tuesday night.

What did Gov. Kemp and Meriwether County officials say?

Gov. Brian Kemp wrote on X that he was “deeply saddened” by the killing.

He called it a reminder of what law enforcement officers face every day on the job, and asked Georgians to lift Fisher’s family and his fellow officers up in prayer.

Meriwether County Schools told parents it had increased security at every school in the district on Wednesday as a precaution.

Where is Warm Springs?

Warm Springs is a small city in Meriwether County, roughly 70 miles south of Atlanta.

It sits between Atlanta and Columbus.

The city runs its own police department. The sheriff’s office covers the county around it, and both were at the motel Wednesday morning alongside the state agents leading the case.

What is a Georgia Blue Alert, and who can request one?

The Blue Alert is the piece of Georgia’s alert system built for exactly this situation. The one that named Steverson went out Wednesday morning, and its purpose ended that afternoon.

The GBI calls it an emergency alert that a local police agency issues, and dates it to legislation passed in 2010.

It covers two situations. The first is the hunt for someone who has killed a law enforcement officer or left one badly hurt.

The second is a search for an officer who has vanished on the job.

The bureau publishes four activation criteria for it:

• The person being sought is still at large and may pose a serious danger to the public.
• Enough information is available to give the public something that could help locate the suspect.
• The person is entered into the National Crime Information Center database, the FBI-run index any agency in the country can query.
• Where a law enforcement officer has gone missing in the line of duty, enough information is available to help locate that officer.

It is a local agency that starts the process, not the state. The GBI is the body a local agency asks.

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Which four alerts make up Georgia’s Public Alert System?

Georgia does not run an alert called an AMBER Alert. Its child abduction alert carries a Georgia name, Levi’s Call.

There are four in total, all listed by the GBI under Georgia’s Public Alert System.

DeKalb County police issued a Mattie’s Call in August for Andrew Dansby, 61, of Stone Mountain.

What happens to a Georgia case when the only suspect dies?

Steverson was never charged in Fisher’s death. He was never indicted, never tried and never convicted, and no Georgia court will ever rule on the allegation against him.

A criminal prosecution in this state runs against a living defendant. With the only man investigators named now dead, there is no indictment to return, no plea to enter and no verdict for a jury to reach.

That leaves the account of Tuesday night where it stands today: with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and with Sheriff McBride, not with a courtroom that tested it.

What the allegation would have amounted to is set out at O.C.G.A. § 16-5-1. Subsection (a) covers a killing carried out unlawfully and with malice aforethought, express or implied. Subsection (c) covers a death caused in the commission of a felony, whether or not malice is present.

Subsection (e)(1) sets the punishment at death, life without parole, or life.

None of that reaches a person who has died. Sentencing is the last step of a prosecution, and there is no prosecution here to reach it.

The investigation itself does not stop. The GBI works a case and does not decide it; the bureau completes its file and turns it over to the district attorney for the judicial circuit covering Meriwether County.

O.C.G.A. § 15-18-6 lists what that office does. Its fourth duty is to review every individual case in which probable cause for prosecution exists and to make a prosecutorial decision available under the law. Its fifth is to draw up indictments and to prosecute indictable offenses.

Reviewing a file and prosecuting one are separate steps, and only the first of them is open in this case.

What happens next in the two death investigations?

Two deaths in two states means two coroner’s offices. Meriwether County’s handles Fisher. Anderson County’s, in South Carolina, handles Steverson, and it was that office that confirmed his death Wednesday.

On the Georgia side the referral is written into the code. O.C.G.A. § 45-16-24 lists the deaths that must be reported, among them a death that results from violence and a death by suicide or casualty.

Where one of those applies, the statute makes it the duty of any law enforcement officer, or anyone else who knows of the death, to notify the coroner or county medical examiner immediately. Subsection (b) then requires that official to order a medical examiner’s inquiry.

South Carolina runs its own investigation of the traffic stop and of the death that followed it.

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Which agency holds the case, and how do you reach it?

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is the lead agency on Fisher’s death investigation and the body that issued the Blue Alert.

The bureau takes information on the case through its tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS (8477).

Its main number is (404) 244-2600, and its headquarters is at 3121 Panthersville Road in Decatur. It also takes information through an online tip form.

What we don’t know yet

Frequently asked questions

What happened in Warm Springs, Georgia?
A Warm Springs police officer was shot and killed outside the Meriwether Country Inn, a motel on Spring Street. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation puts the shooting at about 11:57 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.

Who was the officer who was killed?
Chris Fisher, 36, an officer with the Warm Springs Police Department in Meriwether County. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed his death on Wednesday morning.

How was Officer Chris Fisher shot?
The GBI says he was in his patrol car at the motel, working a traffic stop unrelated to what followed, when the driver of a Chevrolet Silverado pulled up alongside him and fired several shots.

Who was Jimmie Steverson?
Jimmie Lee Steverson, 23, was the man named in the Georgia Blue Alert in connection with the shooting. He was never charged, never tried and never convicted, and no court ruled on the allegation.

Where was Jimmie Steverson found?
In Anderson County, South Carolina, on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 2. Anderson County deputies stopped a vehicle in the area of Interstate 85 after a lookout notice from Georgia, and he was in the back seat.

How did Jimmie Steverson die?
Of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the GBI. He was taken to a hospital, and the Anderson County coroner's office confirmed the death.

Is the search for Jimmie Steverson over?
Yes. The man named in the Blue Alert is dead, and the search that the alert opened has ended. Anderson County deputies detained the driver of the vehicle he was found in.

Had Chris Fisher arrested Jimmie Steverson before?
Yes. Warrants show Fisher arrested him on Aug. 28, five days before the shooting, on felony charges of obstruction, possession of a firearm during the attempted commission of a crime, and marijuana possession. Those are not murder warrants.

Will anyone be prosecuted for Chris Fisher's death?
No charge was ever brought. A Georgia prosecution runs against a living defendant, so with the only man investigators named now dead there is no indictment, no plea and no verdict. The GBI still completes its file and sends it to the district attorney for the judicial circuit covering Meriwether County.

What did Gov. Brian Kemp say?
He wrote on X that he was "deeply saddened," called the killing a reminder of what law enforcement officers face every day, and asked Georgians to lift Fisher's family and fellow officers up in prayer.

What is a Georgia Blue Alert?
The GBI calls it an emergency alert that a local police agency issues, dating it to legislation passed in 2010. It covers two situations: the hunt for someone who has killed a law enforcement officer or left one badly hurt, and the search for an officer who has vanished on the job.

Which alerts make up Georgia's Public Alert System?
Four: Levi's Call for child abductions, Mattie's Call for missing disabled or elderly people, Kimberly's Call for missing adults, and the Blue Alert for law enforcement officers. Georgia does not operate an alert under the AMBER name. Levi's Call is its child abduction alert.