On the morning of October 9, 2021, 26-year-old Dylan Mccauley Harrison, a part-time officer with the Alamo Police Department and a full-time agent with the Oconee Drug Task Force, was shot and killed outside the Alamo police station around 1:00 a.m. It was his first shift with the department. Harrison was a husband and father to a six-month-old son.

Earlier that night Harrison had made a traffic stop in the Circle K parking lot across the street from the station. A man connected to the eventual primary suspect became aggressive during the stop, pushed Harrison, was tased and taken to the Wheeler County Jail; investigators say that arrest was the catalyst for a retaliatory, ambush-style attack. A large manhunt followed and the suspect, 43-year-old Damien Anthony Ferguson, known as Luke, was captured at his home in Alamo on October 10 by a state SWAT team and the U.S. Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Ferguson was charged with murder and multiple other offenses, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty; he has pleaded not guilty. Other arrests in the investigation include Charlotte Ferguson, charged with hindering apprehension, and Asia Kinsey, charged with terroristic threats and acts for a related social media post.