Athens-Clarke County police spent about an hour on the phone with a suicidal man early Wednesday but were unable to talk him out of fatally shooting himself as he sat on a bench in front of the Athens-Clarke County Library on Baxter Street.

The victim called police at about 3:30 a.m. to say he was at the library with a gun and planned to kill himself, according to police.

When officers arrived, they found the man on the bench, on library property, with a rifle across his lap, police said.

Officers immediately cordoned off the area for public safety reasons, and blocked traffic from Baxter Street and other streets leading to the scene, police said.

St. Mary's Hospital, across the street from the library, was placed on lockdown.

After establishing phone contact with the 27-year-old Athens resident and attempting to convince him not take his own life, the man killed himself with a single shot at about 4:30 a.m.