Man shot by Bartow County deputies was under investigation for house fire that killed mother, officials say

Written by: A. Smith

Published December 4, 2025 @ 11:18 AM ET

BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. – A man was fatally shot by deputies Monday afternoon in Bartow County after refusing to exit a home during the execution of a search warrant in connection with a suspicious fire that killed his mother, authorities said. No deputies were injured during the incident.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is conducting an independent investigation at the request of the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office. Once completed, the investigation will be forwarded to the Cherokee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.

Preliminary information indicates that around 4:50–5 p.m. on Dec. 1, deputies from the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, investigators from the State Fire Marshals’ Office, and other law enforcement personnel executed a search warrant at a home on GA-20 Spur near Cartersville in connection with the death of 69-year-old Lynda Miller. Miller died four days earlier in a residential fire on the 5700 block of GA-20, about two miles from the home where Monday’s shooting occurred. Fire crews responding to the blaze encountered heavy smoke and flames and found Miller inside. She was pronounced dead at the scene, and the fire was later deemed suspicious.

Investigators contacted Miller’s son, Dylan Burl Rice, 39, of Cartersville, who became a person of interest in the fire investigation. Rice refused to leave the home when deputies arrived. Law enforcement deployed flashbangs to gain his compliance. Rice then exited through the back door carrying what appeared to be a shotgun or rifle. Deputies attempted to subdue him using less-lethal foam and pepper rounds. Rice pointed the weapon toward deputies, who then fired, fatally striking him. Investigators later confirmed the weapon was a pellet air rifle.

Rice’s autopsy will be conducted at the GBI’s Medical Examiner’s Office. Officials declined to release additional information pending the ongoing investigation.

Bartow County Sheriff’s Office officials said contact with Rice followed several interviews related to his mother’s death. The shooting incident remains under investigation in coordination with the Bartow County Fire and Emergency Services and the GBI.

The officer-involved shooting on Dec. 1 marked the 75th such investigation conducted by the GBI in Georgia in 2025. By the same point last year, the agency had investigated 81 officer-involved shootings.