Authorities say an off-duty sheriff’s deputy from Mississippi was shot and killed outside a motel in Gastonia in what police believe was an attempted robbery.

Investigators say Frederick Gaston III of Pascagoula, Miss., was shot in the chest outside a motel. He was pronounced dead at Gaston Memorial Hospital.

Gaston was a deputy for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi. WCNC-TV reported that he was on his way to Virginia to complete two weeks of Army Reserve duty before he retired.

No arrests have been made.