Grifton, N.C. — A Pitt County man fatally shot his 3-year-old son and then turned the gun on himself Friday night, according to the sheriff's office.

Authorities said Carey "C.J." Adams Jr., 34, talked on the phone with his estranged wife shortly before 10 p.m. She called 911, but by the time authorities arrived at Adams' home on Wiley Gaskins Road in Grifton, south of Greenville, they found he had shot his son, Jesse, and then shot himself, authorities said.

He and the child were taken to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, where Jesse died. Adams died Sunday afternoon.

Pitt County Sheriff Neil Elks said even his deputies were having trouble dealing with the events.

"It's just very sad what we've had to witness," he said. "Several of our officers are very emotionally upset. I had to send two of them home tonight from what they saw."

Neighbors told WNCT News that Adams appeared to be a good dad, who often played with his son in the front yard.

Elks, though, said that Adams was motivated by an ongoing domestic conflict with his son's mother. The couple had been separated for four months, and she had taken a restraining order against him in the past, the sheriff said.

Adams' previous convictions include assault with a deadly weapon, communicating threats, felony breaking and entering and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to state Division of Adult Correction records. He served probation for the six convictions dating from 2006.