Officer Dylan Harrison was killed outside the Alamo Police Department in retaliation for Harrison arresting one of his associates.
A Georgia police officer was shot and killed on his first shift with the department in a tragic incident. Officer Dylan Harrison was allegedly killed outside the Alamo Police Department by 43-year-old Damien Anthony Ferguson in retaliation for Harrison arresting one of his associates hours earlier, said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. "His life was taken from him for simply doing his job," said Alamo Police Chief Karen Zanders, reported CBS News. The 26-year-old officer had been in law enforcement since 2018 and had been working with Oconee County Drug Taskforce Agent before getting killed during his first shift working part-time with the Alamo Police Department. He had also worked as a firefighter and paramedic.
It all started when Harrison had spotted a traffic violation and asked the person to identify himself. After the person refused, the interaction escalated as he pushed Harrison. The officer responded by using the taser, arresting him, and taking him to jail. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Harrison was killed in retaliation for the arrest surrounding the traffic violation. "It is believed that the ambush-style attack on Officer Harrison was retaliation for the incident and arrest of the man," said the bureau in a statement. The man involved in the traffic incident hasn't been identified yet. After Damien Anthony Ferguson shot Harrison, a manhunt was launched, and the state SWAT team and a division of the U.S. Marshals Service arrested him. He is also charged with aggravated stalking related to a previous domestic incident and is being held in the Laurens County jail, authorities said.
"I have never experienced a grief that I have felt since Officer Dylan Harrison's life was taken in our small, quiet town," said Alamo Police Chief Karen Zanders at a press conference. Harrison is the first Alamo officer killed in the line of duty. He is survived by his wife and their 6-month-old son. His family is absolutely devastated. "She’s struggling. It’s just unimaginable," said Harrison's sister-in-law Kayla said during an appearance on Fox & Friends. Harrison's brother David paid tribute to him and said he had dedicated his life to serving the public." He added this brother had volunteered at the local fire department at age 16. "And he would sit up at night waiting for his radio to go off so he could respond to the call of an accident. He left the house at 3 in the morning to go be the first one on the scene to a wreck on the interstate. Just the last two years he’s dedicated his life to serving the public, and he did it so selflessly," he said.
David said his family was wary of the dangers of the police job and tried to dissuade him, encouraging him to become an electrician instead. "We’ve all had that talk with him. We’ve all encouraged that out of him because we knew the dangers of it. We knew the direction this world was headed, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. It’s getting worse by the day," said David. Harrison did give it a thought but he felt like being a police officer was his calling. "Daddy, this is what I was put here to do," he reportedly told his Dad before pursuing his dream job. His family has started a GoFundMe campaign to help support his wife and child. "Dylan always wanted to be a police officer and even when others warned of the danger he knew what his calling was. Dylan was recently married and had a 6-month-old child who will now grow up fatherless," read the campaign.
References:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dylan-harrison-georgia-police-officer-shot-dead-first-shift/
https://www.foxnews.com/media/dylan-harrison-georgia-police-officer-family-killed-first-day
https://www.gofundme.com/f/dillon-harrison-memorial-fund
Cover image source: GoFundMe
