Middle Georgia town mourning officer killed in retaliation shooting

A small Middle Georgia community is still grappling with the loss of a law enforcement officer who was killed during his first shift while “simply doing his job,” according to his heartbroken police chief.

Dylan Harrison, 26, died early Saturday morning following what the GBI described as an ambush outside of the Alamo police station. Authorities said it was a retaliatory shooting that stemmed from the Friday night arrest of another man.

Alamo police Chief Karen Zanders said the death brought her the most heartache she’s experienced during her time in the role. Alamo is a 1.9-square-mile city in the heart of Wheeler County with a population of about 2,790 residents.

“I have never experienced the grief that I have felt since Officer Dylan Harrison’s life was taken in our small, quiet town,” she said during a news conference Sunday.

The slain officer had recently gotten married and had a 6-month-old son, officials said. Relatives created a GoFundMe account for Harrison’s widow and child “so that this family who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect each and every one of us can go to sleep peacefully knowing that they will have financial stability to begin to put shattered pieces of a life without Dylan back together.”

Harrison’s body was taken to the GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy. When his body was transported from the crime lab Monday, a police escort consisting of officers from several agencies accompanied the vehicle that was carrying him.

“We pay tribute to Officer Harrison for dedicating his life and service,” the GBI said in a tweet.

Harrison had been hired as a part-time Alamo police officer and was working his first shift with the department at the time of the fatal shooting, GBI spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said. He was also a full-time Oconee Drug Task Force agent in nearby Dodge County.

Harrison was on duty when he made contact with a man about a traffic violation in the parking lot of a Circle K convenience store across the street from the police department, GBI Special Agent Lindsey Wilkes said. The officer asked the man for his name and the man refused to provide it, she said.

The confrontation escalated to a fight during which the man pushed Harrison, officials said. Harrison arrested the man and took him to the Wheeler County Jail.

The officer was gunned down just a few short hours later about 1 a.m.

Damien Ferguson, 43, has been arrested in connection with Harrison’s death. He was taken into custody by a state SWAT team Sunday following a massive manhunt. He was taken to the Wheeler jail, where he is facing a murder charge.

Credit: Georgia Bureau of Investigation

Credit: Georgia Bureau of Investigation

“The man arrested (on Friday) is a known associate of Damien Ferguson,” Wilkes said.

Harrison began his career in 2015 as an emergency dispatcher in Laurens County, state records show. In 2017, he started working for the campus police department at Middle Georgia State University, eventually reaching the rank of sergeant.

Harrison held multiple overlapping law enforcement jobs during his career, which is not uncommon for officers in small police agencies in rural Georgia.

He graduated from the public safety training academy in Monroe County in 2018. Between September 2018 and May 2020, he worked part time for the Cochran Police Department. He also worked as a deputy in Dodge County, serving full time as an agent on the drug task force.

The Alamo Police Department has just eight officers, six of whom are part time, according to the GBI.

Harrison was the first Alamo officer killed in the line of duty, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page that tracks law enforcement deaths. In January, Alamo police Officer Arturo Villegas died from COVID-19 complications.

“We will never forget Officer Harrison and the fact that he made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the safety of each one of us,” Zanders said.