Louisiana Professor Known for 'Warmth and Kindness' Is Killed by Father-in-Law in Murder-Suicide

University of Louisiana Monroe Joshua Comer

Police say a professor at the University of Louisiana Monroe was fatally shot by his father-in-law in a murder-suicide on Sunday night, according to multiple reports.

Mer Rouge Police Chief Melvin Holmes confirmed to KNOE that officers from his department and those from the Morehouse Parish Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a home Sunday night on a report of shots fired.

Once there, they found the victim, Joshua Comer, 39, and the shooter, Jack Matthews, 68, dead from gunshot wounds. KNOE reports that Matthews, a local business owner, was Comer's father-in-law.

Morehouse Parish Sheriff Mike Tubbs told KLFY that Comer and Matthews appeared to have a confrontation in the home before the shooting.

According to the Hawkeye, the university's student newspaper, Comer was an assistant professor of communication and the communication program director at the school.

The school issued a statement on Twitter, saying, in part, "The ULM family is shocked and saddened by the loss of Dr. Joshua Comer."

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"His enthusiasm, warmth and kindness will be greatly missed," the statement continued.

The school is providing counseling services at no cost to students, faculty and staff.

According to his faculty page, Comer received a doctoral degree in 2015 in communication and rhetoric from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.