CLARKESVILLE, Ga. » Three people are dead and a county sheriff and deputy were wounded after what began as a domestic dispute in northeastern Georgia on Sunday night, authorities said.

Officers responding to a 911 call arrived around 7:30 p.m. at a home outside Clarkesville and found a woman dead in the garage, Deputy Director of Investigations Rusty Andrews of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told Atlanta station WSB-TV. Andrews said when officers entered the house to check for other victims, "it appears they were ambushed."

Habersham County Manager Phil Sutton told the station that Sheriff Joey Terrell and Deputy Bill Zigan were shot and hospitalized. State Patrol Capt. Mark Perry said their injuries "don’t appear serious."

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the suspected shooter as 41-year-old Anthony Giaquinta, a former Gainesville police officer.

Investigators said Giaquinta died in the shooting and another man was found dead outside the home. The circumstances of their deaths were not immediately clear.

Representatives of the GBI and State Patrol did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment late Sunday.

Clarkesville is about 85 miles northeast of Atlanta.