REMERTON — Two men were killed and a deputy injured in a shooting in Remerton early Friday.

Four Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office deputies were working off-duty jobs outside various bars in the town around 1:30 a.m. , a Georgia Bureau of Investigation statement said.

An argument started outside a bar that did not involve law enforcement, escalating to a shootout between two people, leading to the first law enforcement response, the GBI said.

Right after this incident, someone fired more shots, which led to an additional response from two more deputies, the statement said.

A deputy was shot and taken to the hospital, where he was expected to survive; he was protected by a bulletproof vest which kept the bullet from doing more harm, the GBI statement said. Two civilian men died in the shooting, according to the statement.

Weapons connected to the shooting were found.

Autopsies on both fatalities will be carried out by the GBI.

The fatal shooting came almost exactly a year after another Remerton shooting took a life. On Oct. 29, 2023, 21-year-old Brianna Long, who was working as a bartender at the Pier Bar, was killed by what appeared to be a stray bullet.