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GBI, ECSO waiting for autopsy results in deputys death
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Effingham County Coroner David Exley, Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie and other law enforcement personnel gather at the scene where an Effingham Sheriffs deputy was discovered dead in his vehicle Monday morning. - photo by Photo by Pat Donahue

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into why an Effingham County Sheriff’s deputy died Monday morning, and authorities are awaiting results from a pending autopsy.

An autopsy is expected to be performed today at the GBI state crime lab in Savannah.

At about 9:15 a.m. Monday, a deputy — whose name has not been released — was found dead with a gunshot wound in a vehicle next to a sheriff’s office building in Springfield. Another deputy found the body.

Since it was a sheriff’s deputy, Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie immediately summoned the GBI to investigate the circumstances.

The cause of death has not been determined.

Sheriff McDuffie spent much of the day speaking with staff and with some of the deputy’s family members.

“All deaths we investigate are a loss we feel, but when it is one of our own it hits hard,” McDuffie said.