The DeKalb County sheriff's deputy who told police he was forced to shoot and kill a man inside his home Monday afternoon, after the man killed his wife, had known his wife since they were high school sweethearts.

Derrick Yancey, 46. told police he was inside his Stone Mountain home with his wife of 17 years, Linda Yancey, 44, when a man he didn't know shot and killed the woman he met in 11th grade.

DeKalb Sheriff's Office

Derrick Yancey is a 17-year-veteran deputy whose job was to transport inmates.

Linda Yancey had worked most recently as intake officer in the juvenile court.

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"She was in 9th grade and he was in 11th grade when they met," DeKalb Sheriff Thomas Brown said at a press conference Tuesday.

Brown said the incident shook the sheriff's department, where both Yanceys worked. Derrick Yancey is a 17-year-veteran deputy whose job was to transport inmates around the state. Linda Yancey had worked for the department for 13 years, first in the county court and most recently as intake officer in the juvenile court.

Police are still trying to piece together what happened inside their home Monday afternoon.

"We are still unsure who the man was, how that man got into the house or why he was there," Mekka Parish, spokeswoman for the DeKalb police department, said of the unknown man. DeKalb police are handling the investigation.

Police are waiting for an autopsy to help reveal the identity of the man, identified only as a Hispanic male. A relative told police that the man might have been a day laborer, but police were unable to confirm that information or any other details in further interviews, Parish said.

Police responded to a 911 call at about 1 p.m. Monday and found two bodies inside the home at 5515 Mountain View Pass.

Derrick Yancey, who was off-duty at the time, told investigators that he shot and killed the man after the man shot his wife. There were no witnesses.

The man and Linda Yancey died at the scene.

The Yanceys had lived in the brick four-bedroom home since 1998, according to tax records.