A sheriff's deputy at a Georgia jail was stabbed to death early Tuesday by an inmate who was being moved to suicide watch in another part of the facility, authorities said.
The slain deputy was identified as Christopher Wilson Knight, 30, of the Bibb County Sheriff's Department. A second deputy who was injured in the altercation was identified as Jerome Michael Williams, 32. It was not immediately clear whether he had been stabbed.
Knight and Williams were moving an inmate at the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center in Macon to another cell block just before 2:30 a.m., the sheriff's office said in a statement. The inmate, Albert Dewitt Booze, 22, was being moved after he had made comments that he wanted to hurt himself, according to the agency.
While several deputies brought Booze to an observation cell, "a fight between Booze and deputies took place" and "Booze was able to obtain a knife from one of the deputies" and attack Knight and Williams, the sheriff's office said.
Both deputies were taken to Atrium Health Navicent, where Knight was pronounced dead just after 3:45 a.m., officials said. Williams was treated and released.
Knight had worked with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office since 2018, and Williams since November 2020, the sheriff's office said.
Once a criminal investigation is completed by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, it will be turned over to Macon County District Attorney Anita Howard.
