Georgia · Meriwether County · Crime & Courts

Warm Springs, GA Police Officer Chris Fisher Shot and Killed Outside the Meriwether Country Inn on Spring Street; Blue Alert Issued for Jimmie Steverson

A Warm Springs police officer was shot and killed outside a Spring Street motel late Tuesday night, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says. A Blue Alert went out Wednesday morning naming a 23-year-old man considered armed and dangerous.

By Kate Thompson Published Sept. 2, 2026, 8:45 a.m. ET 9 min read Blue Alert

What happened outside the Meriwether Country Inn?

A police officer was shot and killed outside a motel in Meriwether County late Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning the man named in a Georgia Blue Alert had not been caught.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation 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.

The man who died was an officer with the police department in Warm Springs, the GBI confirmed, WSB-TV reported Wednesday morning.

Who was the officer who was killed?

The bureau identified him as Chris Fisher.

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

Who is Jimmie Steverson, and what does the Blue Alert say?

The GBI issued a Blue Alert on Wednesday morning for a man it says is wanted in connection with the officer’s death.

The alert names him as Jimmie Steverson, age 23. WSB-TV gives his full name as Jimmie Lee Steverson.

He is considered armed and dangerous.

His height is given as 5 feet 6 inches and his weight at roughly 150 pounds, FOX 5 Atlanta reported, citing the alert. He has brown eyes and black hair worn in dreadlocks.

The last reported sighting was Tuesday, in Warm Springs. He was dressed then in black gym shorts and a black T-shirt.

The GBI’s own instruction to the public is not to approach him. The bureau asks anyone who sees him, or who sees anything suspicious, to take immediate precautions and to call 911.

The alert describes a man sought by investigators, not a man a court has ruled on, and under the law he is presumed innocent unless and until a jury says otherwise.

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What vehicle are investigators looking for?

The alert lists a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado. WSB-TV describes the truck as black.

FOX 5 Atlanta reports that the alert carries the tag number DEJ2082 for that vehicle.

What did the scene look like Wednesday morning?

Three agencies were at the motel: Warm Springs police, deputies from the Meriwether County Sheriff’s Office, and GBI agents.

WSB-TV’s Steve Gehlbach reported from Spring Street, where a large law enforcement presence was still in place hours after the shooting.

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 now 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 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.

How does a Georgia alert bulletin reach the public?

The path from a police department to a phone screen runs through two state agencies.

A local agency asks the GBI to open an alert. Once the bulletin is written, the bureau takes it to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and asks for activation. GEMA is what pushes it out to broadcasters.

GEMA, working with law enforcement, decides whether the bulletin runs statewide or only regionally.

Broadcasters are asked to carry it at least twice in the first hour, then once an hour for the next three hours.

The system is a partnership rather than a single agency’s product. The GBI lists its partners as the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, GEMA, the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, the Georgia Department of Transportation, the Georgia Association of Broadcasters and the Governor’s Office.

What does Georgia law say about the killing of a police officer?

No charge has been announced in Fisher’s death. What follows is what Georgia law provides.

Murder in Georgia is defined at O.C.G.A. § 16-5-1. Subsection (a) covers a person who unlawfully and with malice aforethought, express or implied, causes the death of another human being.

Subsection (c) is the felony murder provision. It reaches a person who causes a death while committing a felony, whether or not malice is present.

The punishment set out in subsection (e)(1) is death, imprisonment for life without parole, or imprisonment for life.

The victim’s job does not change that definition. Where it matters in Georgia is at sentencing.

O.C.G.A. § 17-10-30 sets out the statutory aggravating circumstances a judge or jury may consider in a case where the death penalty is authorized. The eighth of them, at subsection (b)(8), covers a murder committed against any peace officer, corrections employee or firefighter while that person was engaged in the performance of official duties.

Subsection (c) requires that a jury recommending a death sentence designate in writing, signed by its foreperson, which aggravating circumstances it found beyond a reasonable doubt.

What happens next in the investigation and in court?

The GBI works the case and does not decide it. The bureau investigates, then turns its file over to the district attorney for the judicial circuit that covers Meriwether County. Charging decisions belong to that office.

Meriwether County’s coroner’s office handles the postmortem examination and the cause-of-death ruling.

If an arrest is made on a warrant, Georgia law is specific about the clock that follows. O.C.G.A. § 17-4-26 requires an officer arresting under a warrant to use reasonable diligence in bringing the person before a judicial officer, and in any event to present that person to a committing judicial officer within 72 hours of the arrest. The statute also requires that the accused be told when and where the commitment hearing will be, and provides that a person who is not notified in advance is to be released.

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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 the death investigation and the body that issued the alert.

The bureau asks anyone with information on Steverson’s whereabouts to call 911 or 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, an officer with the Warm Springs Police Department in Meriwether County. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed his death on Wednesday morning.

Who is Jimmie Steverson?
Jimmie Steverson, 23, is the man named in the Georgia Blue Alert as wanted in connection with the shooting. WSB-TV gives his name as Jimmie Lee Steverson. The alert describes a man sought by investigators, not a man a court has ruled on, and he is presumed innocent unless and until a jury says otherwise.

How does the alert describe Jimmie Steverson?
The alert puts his height at 5 feet 6 inches and his weight at about 150 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair in dreadlocks, as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta. The last reported sighting was Tuesday, in Warm Springs, where he was dressed in black gym shorts and a black T-shirt. The GBI describes him as armed and dangerous.

What vehicle is connected to the Blue Alert?
A 2026 Chevrolet Silverado. WSB-TV describes the truck as black, and FOX 5 Atlanta reports the alert lists the tag number as DEJ2082.

What does the GBI ask the public to do?
The bureau says not to approach him. It asks anyone who sees him, or who sees any suspicious activity, to take immediate precautions and call 911. Anyone with information on his whereabouts can also reach the GBI tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS (8477).

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.

What does Georgia law say about killing a police officer?
Murder is defined at O.C.G.A. 16-5-1, which covers both a killing with malice aforethought and a killing caused in the commission of a felony, and sets the punishment at death, life without parole, or life. A victim's status as a peace officer is a sentencing factor rather than part of the definition: O.C.G.A. 17-10-30(b)(8) makes it a statutory aggravating circumstance when a murder is committed against any peace officer, corrections employee or firefighter while engaged in the performance of official duties.