Wife of Ga. Deputy Shot Serving Warrant: 'We are Not Out of the Woods Yet'

The wife of a Carroll County deputy shot in the line of duty says the family is overwhelmed by the love, prayers and well wishes that have poured in from the community.

Investigator Taylor Bristow remained in critical condition Wednesday afternoon, a day after being shot while attempting to serve a warrant. Bristow was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery Tuesday.

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“We are fighting the good fight and APPRECIATE every little and big thing. It’s does not go without notice,” Lyssa Bristow said in a statement late Wednesday.

Bristow’s statement was posted on the Carroll sheriff’s office Facebook page.

“I love you all and my words will never be able to form a true statement of what I feel inside,” she said. “My heart is in a thousand pieces right now and I wish I had good news and a true update but we are not out of the woods yet and we need all the love, prayers and well wishes to continue! God is good and he is in control!”

Taylor Bristow, 30, had been with the Carroll sheriff’s office nearly six years, according to spokesperson Ashley Hulsey. He previously served with the Ware County Sheriff’s Office and the Waycross police department.

Bristow was shot three days after a Paulding County deputy was shot to death while responding to a call.

Deputy Brandon Cunningham was fatally shot Saturday evening while responding to a domestic dispute in the Harmony Creek neighborhood off Virgie Ballentine Drive near Hiram. Shots were fired at the first two deputies who arrived at the home, officials said. Cunningham, 30, was struck and died at a hospital, Paulding County Sheriff Gary Gulledge said.

In Carroll County, Bristow was attempting to serve a warrant around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in the area of Don Rich Drive, a dead-end road near Walker Lake that is just south of Carrollton, when he was shot.

Christopher Bly, 40, of Carrollton opened the door of the home and then deputies followed him inside, the GBI said Wednesday.

“Bly produced an handgun and fired, striking himself and one of the deputies,” the GBI said in a media release. “Bly was pronounced dead at the scene.”

The GBI is investigating both shooting involving the deputies.

How to help

Anyone who would like to help Bristow and his family can make an online donation to the West Georgia First Responders, a non-profit that supports first responders in that area. It is the only legitimate donation site connected to the deputy and his family, the sheriff’s office said.

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