Ga. deputies shoot man in chase after rural mail carrier killed

COMMERCE, Ga. - A suspect is in custody in Banks County after a postal worker was shot and killed while delivering mail over the weekend, leading to a shoot-out between police and the suspect.

Banks County sheriff’s deputies responded just after 9:30 a.m. Saturday to a report of a shooting.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement posted on Facebook that Asa “Junior” Wood, 59, had been shot while delivering mail and later died from his injuries.

Deputies later spotted a vehicle identified for a person of interest.

The sheriff’s office says deputies disabled the vehicle during a chase, and the drive came out shooting.

The sheriff’s office says deputies returned fire, and the man suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called in to help on the case.

The deputies involved in the shoot-out are on administrative leave during the investigation.

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• DEPUTY DEATH: A fourth man has been sentenced to prison in connection with the 2019 slaying of a north Georgia sheriff’s deputy. Brayan Omar Cruz, 19, was sentenced on Friday to serve 17 years in prison. Prosecutors dismissed malice and felony murder counts against him in the killing of Hall County Sheriff’s Deputy Blane Dixon. Cruz was the last of four people charged in Dixon’s death to be sentenced.

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