Second Peach County deputy passes away

PEACH COUNTY, Ga. - The second deputy shot in Peach County while responding to a report of a dispute among neighbors Sunday evening has died.

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation returned to the Ralph Stanley Elrod’s home for a second day trying to get answers. Their focus Tuesday, according to one special agent, the trajectory of rounds Elrod allegedly fired at the deputies who responded to his home on Hardison Road November 6.

Sgt. Patrick Sondron, 41, was killed and Deputy Daryl Smallwood was rushed to a Macon hospital where he spent the past two days in the ICU before passing away Tuesday.

Late Monday night, GBI agents charged 57-year-old Elrod with murder and four counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement officers. They confirm he is the father of a Jones County deputy, which is one of the many agencies that responded to Elrod's home the night he allegedly opened fire. The electrical contractor remains in a Macon hospital. According to the GBI, Elrod was shot once in the stomach by a Byron police officer who hid behind his protective shield while firing engaging in a gun battle with Elrod. More charges are expected to be filed Wednesday.

The shooting of two deputies has everyone is the small town of Byron, Georgia posing the same question: “Why?”

“Why? They’re here to serve and protect. What’s going on?” asked contractor Glenn Masteller after he stopped to briefly near the active crime scene Tuesday.

FOX 5’s Portia Bruner spoke off camera to the neighbor who called 911 after she Elrod allegedly threatened her nephews with a gun for riding all-terrain vehicles in front of his home. She said she watched in horror from her backyard as the two deputies were gunned down on Elrod's front porch.

“They’d only been there a minute before we heard the shots and saw both deputies just drop right there on his front porch. We didn’t know what he would do next, so we all ran inside, told the kids to hide inside different rooms. That’s when I called 911. I had no idea it would end like this, that’s why I feel so bad,” the woman, who did not want to be identified, said.

“I’m just praying for the families of the officers and for the guy who did the shooting. I don’t know if we will ever know what happened,” Masteller said Tuesday.