A City of Charleston police officer committed suicide Thursday morning during a standoff at his home , authorities said . Sgt . George Hildebidle , who had been on the force since 2003 and was married with two children , barricaded himself inside his Grand Oaks home following a 911 call at 7am . Officials said the officer 's wife made the call , which was listed as a domestic dispute . Local police called in the Charleston County Sheriff 's Department , the crisis negotiations team , SWAT , and bomb squads to assume responsibility of the situation 'because we did not want to have our own folks dealing with this since they worked with this individual on a daily basis ' , Charleston Police Chief Gregg Mullen told Live 5 News . Scene : Charleston Police Chief Gregg Mullen speaks with local media following death of one of his officers , Sgt . George Hildebidle , inside his Grand Oaks home on Thursday morning . Closed : Officers evacuated some surrounding homes as they addressed the situation . The deceased , Sgt . George Hildebidle , had barricaded himself inside the home . Domestic : Police say the 911 call that came through around 7am was listed as a domestic dispute . The neighborhood surrounding Hildebidle 's house was evacuated as negotiations started . Chief Mullen said they knew Hildebidle was armed . Hours later , just before 1pm , a decision was made to enter the home . Police said Hildebidle was alone inside the house at the time . The whereabouts of his wife are not known . Upon entering the house Hildebidle was found dead . Hildebidle was married with two children . Chief Mullen described the incident as a tragedy , but it is not believed to be linked to be linked to the case of Michael Slager , the white South Carolina police officer charged with murder for shooting an unarmed black man in the back . ' I think police officers all over the United States constantly experience high stress and what 's going on right now has just elevated that , but this situation today I 'm focusing on what 's happening with members of my department and that 's my priority now , ' Mullen told Live 5 News . According to Mullen , at 12:17 pm , a SWAT team from the sheriff 's office entered the home and found the individual deceased in the residence . ' ( Hildebidle ) served this community well and unfortunately like many situations we deal with , this particular one , he chose to end the situation in his way . 'He was a great officer , I 've worked with him for almost nine years and he was a great sergeant to this community . 'He 's done wonderful things for not only the community , but for his co-workers and we 're certainly going to miss him . '
Sgt . The only thing I can think of is that the police are not allowed to use their own discretion in deciding whether or not a suspect should be arrested and charged. His wife called 911 about 7am . Police surrounded the house and evacuated nearby properties . Just before 1pm they entered and found Hildebidle dead . He was described as a 'great sergeant ' who did 'wonderful things ' Incident unrelated to the case of Michael Slager , the cop accused of murder .