(DALLAS, Georgia) – A Georgia state sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Saturday night while responding to a 911 call about a domestic dispute, officials said.

Paulding County Sheriff Gary Gulledge identified the deceased deputy as Brandon Cunningham, a 30-year-old father of two.

“Tonight we lost a hero,” Gulledge said.

Cunningham and another deputy were “ambushed” when they responded to a home in Hiram after receiving reports of a domestic dispute, Major Ashley Henson said later Saturday night during a news conference.

“Unfortunately, it appears that our MPs have been ambushed,” Henson said, calling it an “incredibly tragic situation.”

When officers arrived at the address, they were met with gunfire from the suspect inside the house, Henson said.

Cunningham was hit while the other deputy dodged the shot.

A female victim at the scene was also shot and taken to intensive care. She was in stable condition Saturday night, officials said.

The male suspect, whose identity was not disclosed by officials, was found dead at the scene; he had apparently inflicted a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Cunningham was a father of two children and had worked for the sheriff’s department since 2020.

His death marks the first officer killed in the line of duty in the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office.

In a statement shared on Facebook, the department called the incident “one of the most difficult in the history of the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office.”

“I ask you to pray for this family — the blood and the blue,” Gulledge said during the press conference. “Everyone here is suffering, all of our staff is suffering.”

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