A police officer in southeast Georgia is the third person to be arrested this week on murder charges related to the March killing of Paulding County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Redington, authorities said Friday.
The suspect, 19-year-old James Bernard Deaton Jr., was arrested Thursday and charged with murder, aggravated assault and aggravated assault with a weapon for the incident. He was being held without bond, the Albany Herald reported.
According to authorities, Deaton was released from prison on July 13 — about five months after being locked up on a weapons charge. The release was related to a parole violation and did not specify for what punishment he served.
Authorities have said Redington, who was a member of the sheriff’s office for only about a year, was fatally shot and paralyzed March 23 while pulling a vehicle over for a traffic violation. Authorities said Redington was ambushed and “executed.”
An arrest warrant filed in District Court in Paulding County, according to the Albany Herald, said Deaton got out of the vehicle, approached Redington and fired one round from a Glock .45-caliber handgun into the officer’s head, before returning to the vehicle and driving away.
Authorities said Redington was an off-duty member of the Franklin County Volunteer Fire Department at the time of the shooting. His widow, Chelsie Redington has since become the leader of a fund to benefit her husband’s family. The fund, called the Jeremy Redington Foundation, has raised more than $271,000 and was managed by the Tyler Family Foundation, a nonprofit based in Tennessee.
A report by the Northeast Georgia Crime Watch shows the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office set aside $113,000 from proceeds from sales of a calendar to pay for the Redington family’s funeral costs. The calendar was sold in March, and proceeds are expected to be paid to the family when Deaton’s bail is posted. The total, if paid before the other two arrests, could exceed $9,000.
Authorities also arrested Jerry Dwayne Lee and Joe William McCullough, all of Naperville, Illinois, on Wednesday. McCullough was charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Redington and was held without bond, according to the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office. Lee, who was arrested on a weapons charge, was also held without bond, authorities said.
Read the full report here.