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.

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.

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

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 man accused of killing a Georgia fire chief who’d stopped to help a driver who struck a deer has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting, a police official said Tuesday.

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.

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

Cauthen was with Coweta County Fire Rescue for over 24 years and was described as an "amazing, hard-working man with a gentle soul," according to a Facebook post from the department. He was shot and killed on Jan. 19 trying to help a stranded driver who'd hit a deer in Alabama.

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 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 ...

On Tuesday, friends, family and the community at large will say goodbye to a Coweta County fire official who was shot and killed in Alabama last week.

A Coweta County fire battalion chief, who was shot and killed recently in Alabama while trying to help a couple who‘d hit a deer with their vehicle, was brought back to Georgia on Thursday for his funeral next week.