FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — An off-duty Gwinnett County sheriff’s deputy was founded dead Saturday night after her son showed up at a neighbor’s house and told them his mom and her boyfriend got into an argument and the boyfriend began firing a gun.

According to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, the teen arrived at his neighbor’s home shortly before 8 p.m. The subsequent 911 call from the neighbor led officers to discover a woman had been killed at the Villages at Shakerag subdivision.

Gwinnett officials said Master Deputy Tamara Tuitt-Bartlett was off duty when she was fatally shot. 

“Master Deputy Tuitt-Bartlett served our community for nearly 20 years with unwavering dedication, compassion, and integrity, truly embodying the core values of the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Her commitment to protecting and serving made a lasting impact on all who had the honor of knowing and working alongside her.

The teen boy was given aid by his neighbor, the release said.

“The quick-thinking neighbor applied pressure to the teenager’s wounds until emergency personnel arrived,” the release said. “The teenager was taken to a local hospital for multiple gunshot wounds and is listed in stable condition.”

Meanwhile, deputies then responded to the teen’s home and tried to make contact with anyone inside. When there was no answer, they went in and found the off-duty Gwinnett deputy in an upstairs bedroom.

The suspect was identified as 43-year-old Eric Sumner of Suwanee.

The Forsyth Sheriff’s Office said he was tracked down on I-75 by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and taken into custody after a brief chase.

Sumner faces charges of murder as well as aggravated assault with intent to murder.

It is not the first loss the family has suffered. Tuitt-Bartlett’s her older son was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Johns Creek in 2021. The driver was never identified. 

“My son was 6’6 and you broke him down,” she said at the time. “His whole body was broken. My son went up and came back down broken.” 

Neighbors had nothing but nice things to say about the Gwinnett deputy. 

“Anything that needed to be vocalized; anything that helped improve the neighborhood, she would listen to people, give her opinion. She was very kind. Very kind,” one resident said.