Service for slain U.S. Marshal to be held Saturday

A memorial service for a slain U.S. Marshal will be held Saturday in Gwinnett County.

Patrick Carothers was shot and killed in southeast Georgia by a fugitive on Nov. 18. He was 53.

The service will be held at 11 a.m. at Greater Atlanta Christian School, the school his children attended. The service is for family and colleagues of Carothers.

Carothers was part of a team executing a warrant for an "extremely dangerous" fugitive from South Carolina when he was killed in Long County, officials said. The fugitive, Dontrell Montese Carter, was also shot and killed.

“I am deeply saddened by the tragic loss of U.S. Marshals Service Deputy Commander Patrick Carothers — a devoted husband, a loving father and an outstanding public servant,” U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a news release.

This is the third recent fatal shooting of a Middle Georgia-based officer. Funerals were held earlier this month for Peach County deputies Sgt. Patrick Sondron and Daryl Smallwood.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Carothers' honor may be made to the U. S. Marshals Survivors Benefit Fund, P. O. Box 11730, Bozeman, MT 59719, or online at usmarshalsfund.org.