Categories: Fulton Montgomery Schoharie, News

SHARON — A Saratoga County Sheriff’s deputy, responding to smoke coming from a burning car, uncovered what investigators believe was a suicide, officials said on the police department’s Facebook page.

The incident happened at about 5 p.m. on Nov. 7 off Route 20 in the Town of Sharon, officials said.

The deputy, who saw smoke while patrolling the area, determined the smoke was coming from a wooded area at 1642 Highway 20. A deceased person was found inside the burning vehicle, officials said.

Sharon Springs firefighters were called to the scene to extinguish the fire, but the car’s location wasn’t accessible to firetrucks, officials said.

Investigators believe the man who died set fire to the car and then shot himself, Investigator Bruce Baker said.

The presence of flammable materials at the scene prompted officials to call in the New York State Police Bomb Disposal unit and the FBI Bomb Disposal Unit, Baker said. Also assisting at the scene were the Schoharie County Fire Coordinator’s Office, Sharon Springs Fire Department and the state Department of Homeland Security Office of Fire Prevention and Control Haz-Mat Response Unit, in addition to Schoharie County EMS.