A resident in the area opened fire on Battalion Chief Bart Cauthen and the driver as they walked up his driveway for help.

We lost one of our brothers, leaders, mentor, and family to a senseless tragedy,” Cauthen's colleagues wrote in a Facebook post.

In Chambers County, Alabama, a Georgia county fire chief, James Bartholomew Cauthen, was fatally shot after attempting to assist a couple who had struck a deer while traveling. WXIA's Cody Alcorn reports.

CHAMBERS COUNTY, Ala. -- A man fatally shot a fire battalion chief and wounded the driver of a car that hit a deer in rural Alabama, authorities said.

James Cauthen, a 54-year-old fire chief with Coweta County Fire in Georgia, was shot and killed while helping drivers who hit a deer in Alabama.

A Georgia fire chief was shot dead after stopping to help motorists who had hit a deer in Alabama. A man who lived nearby now faces murder charges.

A fire battalion chief from Georgia was killed in a roadside shooting that injured two other people in Chambers County on Sunday night, the sheriff’s office said. “We lost one of our brothers, leaders, mentor, and family to a senseless tragedy,” the Coweta County Fire Rescue Department posted on Facebook last night.

A Georgia fire chief was shot to death in Alabama after stopping to help a couple whose car struck a deer, officials said.

Authorities say murder charges have been issued for a man accused of fatally shooting a Georgia fire chief in rural Alabama.

A fire chief died in Alabama ... scene," the Chambers County Sheriff's Office said. "The deceased victim is identified as James Bartholomew Cauthen, 54 years of age from Moreland, Georgia ...

We lost one of our brothers, leaders, mentor, and family to a senseless tragedy,” Cauthen’s colleagues wrote in a Facebook post.

Investigators tell WRBL the suspect, William Randall Franklin, 33, allegedly opened fire on Cauthen and the driver without warning as they approached Franklin's home to seek help.