HALL COUNTY - A man shot his 2-year-old son and then turned the gun on himself in an overnight murder suicide in the Poplar Springs Road area, according to authorities.

Hall County Sheriff’s Office deputies first responded around 12:30 a.m. to Poplar Springs Road about a “man assaulting a 23-year-old woman and leaving the residence with the couple’s 2-year-old son.”

The man, identified as Christian Castro, 24, left with his son, Christian Castro Jr.

Deputies spotted Castro’s vehicle at a home adjacent to his on Poplar Springs Road.

“As deputies approached the car on foot, Castro fired several gunshots at them, but no one was injured. Deputies could see Castro’s son sitting on his lap in the car,” spokesman Derreck Booth wrote in a news release.

Castro drove around in a pasture as law enforcement established a perimeter. A negotiator was unsuccessful in reaching Castro by phone after multiple attempts.

“At approximately 3:30 a.m., deputies heard gunshots coming from Castro’s vehicle. Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team members immediately approached the car and discovered that Castro had shot and killed his son, then turned the gun on himself,” Booth said.

Booth said no shots were fired out of concern for the child’s safety.

Both bodies were taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab.

Police for Gainesville, Oakwood, Flowery Branch and Gwinnett County assisted in the case as well as the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia State Patrol.

“First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers go out to the child’s family, and we ask that our community do the same. During the course of this incident the perpetrator fired upon the deputies, who in turn demonstrated remarkable restraint by not returning fire out of concern for the safety of the child. They quickly contained the situation to ensure that no other lives were put at risk, and they undertook efforts to bring the incident to a peaceful resolution,” Sheriff Gerald Couch in part of a statement.