Deputy Sheriff Allen H. Finch

Allen H. Finch

Deputy Sheriff Allen Finch and Deputy Sheriff Aaron Creel were Shot and killed by a prisoner in Jackson County Hospital.

The suspect, under a life sentence for robbing a service station in Marianna, set fire to a mattress in his cell. He and three other prisoners were taken to the hospital for minor burns. Deputy Finch escorted the inmate to the restroom where he gained control of Deputy Finch's weapon and then fatally shot him. He then walked to a nearby room and shot Deputy Creel twice in the head as he was guarding the other prisoners. He then shot and killed an innocent bystander.

The inmate walked out of the hospital and forced a couple to drive him away in their car. He released his hostages near Donalsonville, Georgia, but kept their car. Later in the day the inmate was located and chased by two Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents near Smithville. They cornered him near a school where he jumped out and grabbed a 14-year-old boy. With a gun to the boy's head, he forced the agents to surrender their weapons. He then took the boy, the agents' weapon, and their car.

The suspect drove a few miles away, stopped at a house and shot through the front door when the homeowner refused to open it. He then fled on foot with the boy to a nearby pecan grove as Georgia state troopers arrived on the scene. One trooper was shot in the head during an exchange of gunfire. Another trooper, 200 yards away, shot the suspect through the chest with a .30-.30 rifle. He fell to his knees still holding his gun, pointed at the boy's head. The boy quickly picked up another gun that the suspect had dropped and shot him several times.

Deputy Finch was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He was survived by his wife and child.