Officer Allen Lee Jacobs is pictured in this undated handout photo provided by the Greenville Police Department in South Carolina. REUTERS/Greenville Police Department/Handout via Reuters

(Reuters) - A self-described gang member killed a South Carolina police officer on Friday, then called his own mother before turning the gun on himself, police said.

The suspect committed suicide moments after firing on officers who were trying to serve him with an arrest warrant at a house in Greenville, South Carolina, Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller told reporters.

The department identified the slain officer as Allen Lee Jacobs, 28, an Army veteran who served in Iraq before joining the force in 2011.

“We lose, we hurt, we ache,” Miller said. “In an instant, lives can change forever.”

Jacobs, whose job was to investigate gang activity, was among several serving the warrant targeting a man police said was a known and self-described gang member, Miller said.

The man ran down the street and the officers chased him until the man opened fire, hitting Jacobs several times, Miller said.

The suspect then ran a short distance, called his mother, and shot himself to death, Miller said. He had no further details on the man’s phone conversation.

Jacobs, a father of two boys, was expecting a baby girl with his wife in July. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital, the department said.