WORTH COUNTY — Deputies with the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office assisted Worth County law enforcement officers after a chase turned deadly late Friday night, according to Sheriff Billy Hancock.

“At around 10:15 Friday night I received a call from [Worth County] Sheriff Whitaker that deputies there had been involved in a short chase with an individual,” Hancock said. “When the subject exited his vehicle a deputy noticed that he had a rifle in his hand and was running toward a small group of homes, and gunfire was exchanged.”

That exchange ultimately resulted in the death of the subject, who has been identified as 30-year-old James Randall McKendree. Whitaker told media that none of his deputies fired their weapons.

Residents living near where the chase ended may have fired personal weapons in self defense. The GBI is still investigating that matter as of press time.

No one else involved in the incident was wounded.

Hancock said Crisp County deputies assisted in locating the subject’s body. At the time they deployed, however, it was unknown if the suspect was alive and in hiding, was wounded, or was dead.

“Our tracking team, which consists of five members of the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office and our K-9, responded and began a search for the subject along with the Department of Corrections’ K-9 unit,” Hancock said.

The K-9 teams coordinated with Worth County deputies and Georgia State Patrol troopers on the ground to ensure they began work in areas that had been deemed secure by GSP helicopter aviators operating overhead. Meanwhile, a detective used cell phone triangulation to narrow the search area, Hancock explained.

K-9s discovered the deceased subject close to a woodline located near the scene of the shooting.

This is a developing story. Check back for more information as it becomes available.