GBI Investigates Death of Police Officer in Warm Springs, GA

UPDATE - September 2, 2026:

Jimmy Lee Steverson was pronounced deceased at a hospital in Anderson, SC.

ORIGINAL RELEASE:

Warm Springs, Meriwether County, GA (September 2, 2026) - At the request of the Warm Springs Police Department, GBI agents are investigating the death of Warm Springs Police Department (WSPD) Officer Chris Fisher, age 36.

Preliminary information indicates that on September 1, 2026, at about 11:57 p.m., at the conclusion of an unrelated traffic stop, Officer Fisher was on duty in his patrol car in the parking lot of Meriwether Country Inn, 5675 Spring Street, in Warm Springs, GA. While Officer Fisher was stopped, a black 2026 Chevrolet Silverado stopped beside Officer Fisher’s patrol car. The driver, later identified as Jimmy Lee Steverson, age 23, of Warm Springs, GA, then fired multiple shots into Officer Fisher’s patrol vehicle, hitting Officer Fisher. Steverson then fled the parking lot.

Officer Fisher was pronounced deceased on scene.

Officer Fisher’s body was taken to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office, where an autopsy will be conducted.

On September 2, 2026, at approximately 11:39 a.m., the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office (SC) initiated a traffic stop on a car in Anderson, SC. Steverson was a passenger in the car. When law enforcement made contact with the car, they discovered Steverson injured from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Steverson was transported to a local hospital.

The Warm Springs Police Department, the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, the Manchester Police Department, the Meriwether County Sheriff’s Office, the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office, multiple GBI work units, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia State Patrol, United States Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Marshals Service assisted with this investigation.

This investigation is active and ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the GBI Midland Regional Investigative Office at 706-565-7888. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling the GBI Tipline at 1-800-597-TIPS(8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

The GBI will conduct an independent investigation. Once the investigation is complete, the case file will be given to the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.