Gwinnett Police officers shot and killed a man who came at them with a steak knife after barricading himself inside his home Thursday morning, authorities said.

GBI spokesperson Sherry Lang said Joseph Roy, 72, was shot a total of two times by two officers who fired three shots inside the house on Avalon Meadows Court. The street is a residential cul-de-sac near Lawrenceville not far from Gwinnett Place Mall.

Police had responded to a suicide threat call and found Roy in the bathroom, Lang said Thursday afternoon. Roy opened the bathroom door, yelled at officers, then got within five feet of them with a 6-to-8 inch knife, she said, before they shot.

Lang said she could not say whether anyone else was in the home at the time of the incident.

Police went to the house in response to a 911 call from a nearby home.

Roy was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The GBI is investigating the case.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. (center) is flanked by GOP whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (left) and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, as Thune speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate passed the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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