Firefighters from Gwinnett and Hall County fought an early morning house fire in the Buford area Thursday and a man thought to be the sole occupant of the house apparently committed suicide in nearby woods during the operation.
The call came in about 7:00 to a report of a house fire on the 3000 block of North Bogan Road NE near the Hall/Gwinnett County line. When firefighters arrived, they reported heavy smoke and fire showing from a two-story, single-family dwelling.
As crew members completed a survey of the scene, they observed a man in the woods behind the house who said that the house was vacant. During operations, firefighters encountered the unidentified man in the woods again, but this time he was holding a shotgun.
Gwinnett County Police officers arrived and established a protective perimeter around the house.
As fire crews were finishing their work, police reported that the man with the gun had been found dead on a neighboring property and that he had apparently killed himself.
Fire investigators said that the cause of this fire is under investigation, and the dead man was known to be the occupant of the house.