Deputy US marshal, fugitive killed in Georgia shootout

This undated photo provided by Sumter County Sheriff's Office shows Dontrell Montese Carter. A fugitive accused of attempting to murder police officers fatally shot a deputy U.S. marshal trying to arrest him Friday, Nov. 18, 2016, in southeast Georgia, where other law officers returned fire and killed the suspect, federal authorities said. The slain suspect was identified as Dontrell Montese Carter, who was wanted in Sumter County, S.C., since September on charges of attempted murder of police officers, domestic violence and illegally discharging a weapon, the Marshals Service said in a news release. (Sumter County Sheriff's Office via AP) (The Associated Press)

LUDOWICI, Ga. – The hunt for a fugitive accused of shooting at police in South Carolina turned deadly when law officers tracked the suspect to southeast Georgia, where an attempt to arrest him erupted in gunfire.

The brief shootout at a mobile home in rural Long County killed a deputy U.S. marshal as well as the man his team was trying to apprehend.

The U.S. Marshals Service said Patrick Carothers, deputy commander of the agency's Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, died after being shot twice as the officers entered the mobile home.

"Pat is a hero," David Harlow, deputy director of the Marshals Service, said in a statement Friday offering condolences to Carothers' wife and five children. Carothers had served 26 years with the agency.

The slain suspect was identified as Dontrell Montese Carter, 25. He had been wanted in Sumter County, South Carolina, since Sept. 18 on charges of attempted murder of police officers, domestic violence and illegally discharging a weapon.

The agency said Carothers and his team had tracked Carter to a mobile home just outside Ludowici, about 55 miles southwest of Savannah. Carothers was shot as they were entering the home.

Law officers returned fire and shot Carter multiple times, the Marshals Service said. Both men were taken to area hospitals, where they were pronounced dead.

Carter had been on the run since he fled South Carolina in mid-September. The Sumter County Sheriff's Office said at the time that officers tried to arrest Carter after receiving calls that he had assaulted his girlfriend and fired gunshots into the home of a relative who tried to intervene.

Carter ended up leading officers on a car chase, the sheriff's office said, and fired shots at the officers as he left his vehicle and escaped on foot.

Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis offered condolences in a statement Friday. His office declined further comment.

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, in a statement Friday, said she was "deeply saddened" by Carothers' death.

"He stayed true to his oath to the last, laying down his life to keep his community safe and his neighbors secure," Lynch said. "I know that his legacy will live on in the proud annals of the U.S. Marshals Service and in the memory of his fellow law enforcement officers from coast to coast."