STUART, Va. – A Martinsville man is dead after a shooting in a church parking lot in Patrick County.

27-year-old Damien Lamont Hairston was pronounced dead outside the True Gospel Baptist Church, which is located on Salem Highway in Stuart.

Patrick County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the church about 8 p.m. Sunday, where they found Hairston suffering from a gunshot wound. He died a short time later.

According to Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith, the church was not in service at the time of the shooting. The sheriff said that the parking lot was used as a meeting place by Hairston and a group of individuals, none of whom are members of the church.

Sheriff Smith says Hairston’s shooting death is being carried as a homicide and remains under investigation.