WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ga. — Washington County Sheriff Thomas Smith died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Monday.
11Alive’s Macon sister station WMAZ reported Smith’s death on Saturday.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, they were contacted to investigate Smith’s death Saturday morning by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. The GBI said he was discovered at his residence in Tennille.
An autopsy completed Monday showed he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the GBI said. They have not called it a suicide.
On Saturday, the GBI Office of Public Affairs Director Nelly Miles said there was no foul play suspected.
Smith was a native of Washington County and a former president of the Georgia Sheriff's Association.
As sheriff, Smith organized the county's first K9 unit and a neighborhood watch program, WMAZ reported.
A number of other sheriff’s offices have expressed their condolences on social media.
“Sheriff Smith was a very kind and considerate person. He was the epitome of the very best in a county sheriff,” Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said in a Facebook post on Sunday. “Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends and our brothers and sisters in blue!”
OTHER HEADLINES: