Deputy Brian Lamar Mahaffey of the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed today in the line of duty while serving warrant papers at a home on Sand Hill Drive.
Mahaffey, a Heritage High School graduate and father of two young children, had just turned 30 years old the day before he was shot.
He had been with the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office since July 2005 and had been working with the Narcotics and Vice unit for the last two years, according to spokesperson Sgt. Jodi Shupe.
The unit, along with several back up deputies, was serving a warrant for rape, which allegedly occurred Friday night, to Terry Brown at his house at Sand Hill Drive, near Honey Creek Road, shortly before 1 p.m. today.
Brown reportedly fired first at officers, and there was an exchange of gunfire. Brown was shot and killed.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations has taken over the investigation of the incident.
Mahaffey was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time, but the bullet was able to enter an unprotected area into his abdomen, said Shupe.
He was transported to Rockdale Medical Center but died shortly after.
Another deputy was treated for a shrapnel wound, from a bullet casing, and later released.
Mahaffey reportedly came from a public safety background. His father was a firefighter and his mother had worked for the GBI.
"It’s been hard on all of us," said Shupe. "It’s been hard on the guys that were there, that’s for sure."
He is the first Rockdale deputy killed in the line of duty in more than a century, said Shupe. A deputy named William Christian was the last deputy killed in the line of duty.
Funeral services for Mahaffey are set for 2 p.m. today at Conyers First Baptist Church.
A law enforcement procession will leave out of Scot Ward Funeral Home around 1:45 p.m., turn left through Olde Town Conyers to the Parker Road Bridge, left on Flat Shoals Road, left on Georgia Highway 20/138, across I-20, turning left on Boar Tusk Road, turning into First Baptist Church of Conyers by 2 p.m.
Civilians may line the procession route and are encouraged to stay on sidewalks where sidewalks are available.
