A Louisiana State Police trooper died in an apparent suicide on Wednesday when colleges were executing a search warrant on his home as part of a criminal investigation, according to the Associated Press.

State Police Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis sent an email earlier today notifying State Trooper August “Gus” McKay’s colleagues of his death and noted that he was under criminal investigation. “In this time of need, please join me in prayer for Trooper McKay, his family, and his colleagues throughout the LSP family,” Davis wrote.

McKay made headlines earlier this year when reports surfaced that he had used a racial slur to refer to a Black colleague in 2017, but was never disciplined for it. McKay was reportedly removed by a federal task force but had been serving as an undercover narcotics agent in New Orleans. Though the State Police had claimed that it was an isolated incident, an AP News investigation found dozens of incidents over a three-year period where employees had used official email accounts to send and forward racist emails.