Deputy Sheriff Henry Eugene Privett

Henry Eugene Privett

Deputy Sheriff Henry Privett was shot and killed with his own service weapon by a prisoner who was attempting to escape the Fulton County Jail at 1035 Jefferson Street NW.

He was sitting in an office completing paperwork when the prisoner entered, grabbed Deputy Privett's gun he noticed in a drawer, and shot him in the arm and chest. Deputy Privett was transported to a local hospital where he died a short time later.

The suspect, 31, serving a 10 year sentence for armed robbery, had been transferred from a state prison camp to the Fulton County Jail where he was made a trustee, and assigned to do office work. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life. On May 28, 1969, he escaped from the state prison and captured later that day.

Deputy Privett was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War and had served with the Fulton County Sheriff's Office for four years. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.