A Georgia fire chief was shot to death in Alabama after stopping to help a couple whose car struck a deer, officials said. James Bartholomew Cauthen was the battalion chief for the Coweta County Fire Department.

A man fatally shot a fire chief and wounded the driver of a car that hit a deer in rural Alabama when they walked on his property to ask for help.

James Cauthen was killed on Sunday as he and the driver he was assisting came under fire while seeking help in Stroud, Ala., the authorities said. A man was charged with murder.