A Georgia fire chief was shot to death in Alabama after stopping to help a couple whose car struck a deer, officials said. James Bartholomew Cauthen was the battalion chief for the Coweta County Fire Department.

The Coweta County fire chief was shot to death over the weekend when he stopped to help a stranger who had hit a deer in Alabama, investigators say.

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.