Slain Warm Springs officer Chris Fisher honored in Fayetteville as Georgia flags fly at half-staff

A funeral for Fallen Warm Springs police Sgt. Chris Fisher was held Tuesday as officers from across Georgia joined his family and the small community he served for a final farewell.

More than a dozen law enforcement agencies attended the service at Flat Creek Baptist Church in Fayetteville to honor Fisher, who was shot and killed while on duty Sept. 1.

Warm Springs Police Chief Matthew Mayfield said the service offered a chance to mourn, heal and celebrate Fisher's life.

"I've dreaded it. We've all dreaded it," Mayfield said. "But at the same time, I am looking forward to ... healing and celebrating Sgt. Fisher."

After the funeral, a procession traveled from Flat Creek Trail along Highway 54 and Jeff Davis Road before ending at Mowell Funeral Home in Fayetteville, according to the Fayette County Sheriff's Office.

Gov. Brian Kemp ordered flags lowered to half-staff Tuesday at the Georgia State Capitol and in Meriwether, Fayette and Heard counties. The United States Honor Flag was also brought to Fayetteville to honor Fisher.

Mayfield said Fisher quickly became the kind of officer Warm Springs needed.

"He went to work in our community to keep our community safe," Mayfield said. "We desperately needed it. We needed an officer to be proactive and be a community-style officer, and he was."

Warm Springs has fewer than 500 residents and a small police department. Mayfield said residents responded to Fisher's death by calling the department and leaving flowers and other memorials outside the station.

"They've showed up every day," Mayfield said. "They're mourning as much as we are because he did make an impact in our community."

Fisher, 36, was shot and killed while on duty shortly before midnight Sept. 1. Authorities said he had just finished an unrelated traffic stop when a driver pulled alongside his patrol car and fired several shots.

The suspected gunman, Jimmy Lee Steverson, was later found with what authorities described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a traffic stop on Interstate 85 in South Carolina. He died a short time later.

Mayfield said Fisher had arrested Steverson on five felony charges Aug. 27. Steverson was released on bond later that day.

Fisher served in the U.S. Army as a transportation specialist before working in law enforcement in Heard, Fayette and Meriwether counties, according to his obituary. He joined the Warm Springs Police Department in May and was promoted to sergeant in July.

He is survived by his wife and two children.