Deputy Brandon Cunningham, 30, of the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office died in the shooting at a home outside the town of Hiram on Saturday night. Cunningham, who worked in the sheriff’s office since 2020, leaves behind two children. Paulding County/Facebook

Hiram is located about 30 miles west of Atlanta.

A suspected shooter was later found dead; he apparently inflicted the gunshot wound on himself. A woman, believed to be the victim of the abuse, was also shot and found seriously injured, the sheriff’s office said.

“Tonight we lost a hero,” Sheriff Gary Gulledge said during a press conference, appearing to hold back tears. “I ask you to pray for this family, both the blood and the blue. Everyone here is hurting. All of our staff is hurting.”

At around 6:15 p.m., Cunningham and another deputy were called out of the scene because of a domestic dispute. When they opened the doors of their patrol cars, they were shot, Sheriff Major Ashley Henson said at the press conference.

Other officers were fired at but not shot, Henson said.

“Unfortunately, it appears our officers were ambushed,” Henson said, adding that it was unclear whether officers fired back.

A woman arrived at the apartment, Henson said. She had been shot and was taken to a hospital, where she remained in intensive care Saturday evening, Henson said.

This was the first line-of-duty death for the sheriff’s office, which serves 178,421 residents.

As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, five Georgia police officers have died in the line of duty this year.