MACON, Ga. — Two years ago, tragedy struck the Bibb County Sheriff's Office when Deputy Christopher Knight was stabbed inside the jail, and later died.
The sheriff's office remembers Knight as a bright young deputy eager to serve his community.
"I had asked the lieutenant, 'Who can I reward today?' And everybody on the squad unanimously said, 'Knight deserves that flashlight. Because he's our shining go-to guy,'" Major Eric Woodford, Knight's supervisor said.
Woodford got a call April 6, 2021, that he'll never forget. It was a call nobody wants to get in the middle of the night.
"It was early hours of the morning. Sleeping, and phone goes off. And I see it's my captain," he said. "I said, 'Man, something's got to be going on.'"
Something was going on. Deputy Knight was stabbed fatally stabbed inside the jail.
"It was a tough morning, going in to see, here, a young, such a bright young man with a great future. And obviously, things had gone the wrong way," Woodford said.
Knight's death sparked an effort to update conditions inside the jail, and make things safer for deputies and inmates. Days after he died, Mayor Lester Miller announced a $3 million project to improve jail security.
"We realized then that something had to be done. We had a death of one of our own, and we wanted to do every single thing we could do to make sure that the inmates and the deputies both are safe," Miller said.
Woodford says those updates included replacing hundreds of cell doors that didn't lock, and installing shatter-proof lighting.
"We also use this, what not to do, or how to train from this. A reminder to our younger deputies that we should do things the way we're supposed to do them," Woodford said.
Two years later, he keeps copies of Knight's obituary. It's a reminder of what could happen on the job.
"I kind of keep it on my desk. I keep one in my car, remembering that April 6th day," Woodford said.
Remembering the department's shining star, gone too soon.
Woodford says they've finished the renovations they started after Deputy Knight's death. Now, he says they've moved on to other cell blocks.
Woodford says since the jail's inmate population is down, they should be able to get future projects done more quickly.
Meanwhile, Albert Booze, the man accused of killing Knight, is set to stand trial this October.