Special Agent Garland E. Fields was shot and killed in a gun battle on March 3, 1948, while investigating a suspicious person at the Lighthouse Restaurant in Swainsboro on GA 4 South. He was the first special agent killed in the line of duty.

Special Agent Fields was eating lunch with GBI Lt. Bill McDuffy when a young man entered the restaurant offering a rifle for sale. SA Fields suspected the rifle might have been stolen, so he accompanied the man outside the restaurant to question him. As SA Fields approached the man’s car, he was shot multiple times by another man inside the car. SA Fields managed to return fire, getting off five shots before collapsing in the parking lot. SA Fields died on the way to the hospital.

The men fled the scene and eluded police barricades the rest of that day and night and into the next morning. Following a high-speed chase and gun battle, the fugitives were eventually cornered and surrendered later that day.

Agent Fields had been with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for only four weeks. He was survived by his wife and two daughters. Special Agent Fields was known to be giving man who was loved by many.

GA State Route 56 from U.S. 80 to the Burke County line was dedicated as the Special Agent Garland E. Fields Memorial Highway.

The GBI remembers and honors Special Agent Garland E. Fields. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.