A Paulding County man killed his girlfriend and then shot himself Sunday evening after a dispute escalated to gunfire, authorities said.

Deputies responded to the 900 block of Hitchcock Road around 6:45 p.m. after Deanna Jean Rose, 27, called 911 following a dispute with her boyfriend, 56-year-old David Vern Price, Paulding County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ashley Henson said.

When deputies arrived, they discovered that Rose had been shot and was dead at the scene, Henson said in a news release. Price was found inside the home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the news release said. He remains in critical condition at the hospital.

Henson confirmed that Price will face murder charges if he survives.

Detectives are trying to determine what led up to the incident.

Paulding County was hit with tragedy on Father’s Day with two homicides within seven miles of each other, bringing the homicide count for the year to three.

Authorities also responded to the 200 block of Ashbury Court that day after Brian Allan Johns, 58, was stabbed to death by his 17-year-old tenant Elijah Nehemiah Harris, police said. The two allegedly had gotten into an argument, according to Henson.

Anyone with information on either incident is asked to contact the sheriff’s office tip line at 770-443-3047.

— Please return to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution for updates.

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