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Georgia sheriff's investigator dies after child abuse suspect shoots

Investigator Taylor Bristow of the Carroll County, Georgia, Sheriff's Department has died after he was shot and critically wounded by a child sex abuse suspect this week, officials said Friday. Photo courtesy of Carroll County Sheriff's Department/Facebook

Aug. 24 (UPI) – A sheriff's investigator in the US state of Georgia who was shot and seriously injured this week during an altercation with a child sexual abuse suspect has succumbed to his injuries, local authorities said.

Investigator Taylor Bristow of the Carroll County Sheriff's Office in Georgia succumbed to his injuries after being hospitalized in critical condition, department officials announced in a Facebook post Friday.

After the incident on Tuesday in Carrollton, Georgia, about 80 kilometers west of Atlanta, he was flown by rescue helicopter to a hospital in Atlanta.

Authorities said Bristow was shot by a suspect named Christopher Bly, 40, as Carroll County and Georgia Bureau of Investigation officers executed a search warrant from the GBI's Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit.

The sheriff said Bly flew back into his home after investigators knocked on the door, pulled out a gun and fired, hitting both himself and Bristow. Bly's death was determined to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Agents said they found and seized “several electronic devices containing child sexual abuse material” in the home.

“Our grief over the loss of one of our loved ones is indescribable, but we are grateful to be part of a community whose overwhelming support and love is equally immeasurable,” the sheriff said in a statement.

On Saturday, a police escort transported the investigator's remains from the GBI crime lab along Interstate 20 to a funeral home in Bremen, Georgia.

Bristow died less than a week after another Georgia deputy was killed in a shooting while responding to a 911 call about a domestic dispute.

In this case, 30-year-old Deputy Brandon Cunningham of the Paulding County Sheriff's Office died in a hospital on August 17 after being shot outside a residence near the city of Hiram, Georgia.

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