Ga. deputy dies 3 days after shootout

By Caroline Silva and Alexis Stevens
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA — A Georgia sheriff’s deputy died in the hospital Monday afternoon, just three days after a domestic call in Jackson County turned into a violent shootout.

Lena Nicole Marshall, who joined the sheriff’s office in June 2020, died shortly before 4 p.m. after she was shot Friday night by a suspect, Sheriff Janis Mangum confirmed. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the shooter as Jessica Worsham, 43, of Hoschton.

Marshall is the sixth Georgia officer killed in the line of duty this year. Of the six, three were shot, including Marshall. Last year, seven Georgia officers were killed while on duty.

The sheriff’s office said Worsham fired at Marshall and another deputy when they confronted her at a home, striking Marshall. The other deputy returned fire, hitting and killing Worsham, the sheriff’s office said. The sheriff did not specify where Marshall was injured.

A benefit fund has been set up for Marshall and her children at Northeast Georgia Bank in Jefferson, Mangum said in a post. A GoFundMe campaign has also amassed more than $40,000 for the family to cover funeral expenses.

On Friday, the deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call around 9:20 p.m. in the 6400 block of Ga. 124, according to the GBI. According to the 911 call, the homeowners wanted a nonresident removed from the home.

When the deputies met with Worsham at the front door, she pulled out a firearm and pointed it toward them, the GBI said. The deputies told the woman to drop the weapon, the sheriff’s office said, but she opened fire, eventually resulting in her death. An autopsy will be performed at the GBI Crime Lab.

Marshall is the first Jackson County deputy killed in 27 years and the third killed in the line of duty, according to the Officers Down Memorial Page, which tracks law enforcement deaths. The last time a Jackson deputy was killed on the job was Nov. 4, 1994, when Edward Monroe Evans was struck by a vehicle. In 1919, Sheriff Clifford David Barber was shot to death.

Marshall began her law enforcement career in 2009 with the Winder Police Department. She later served in roles with the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, Helen Police Department and Habersham County Sheriff’s Office before joining Jackson County last year.

Marshall was shot one day after a Henry County police officer was critically injured while attempting to serve an arrest warrant. On Thursday, police were investigating a domestic dispute near McDonough when an officer was shot, department spokesman Sgt. Anthony Militello said. The suspect was identified as 22-year-old Jordan Jackson, who fled the scene in a 2016 Honda Civic, police said.

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The officer, 38-year-old Paramhans Desai, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and remained in critical condition Monday, police said. He’s a veteran officer who also worked for the Georgia Department of Corrections and DeKalb County police.

The GBI is investigating Friday’s incident as an officer-involved shooting, the 84th such investigation the agency has opened this year and the third this month. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.

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