Tom Schweich, Missouri’s auditor and a Republican candidate for governor of the state, has died in a apparent suicide, police are saying.

Schweich apparently shot himself just minutes after inviting reporters in his home in St. Louis for an interview, according to an Associated Press report.

The death shocked state officials, who praised him for his public service and his “unblemished record” in office.

Mysteriously, Schweich had been in a phone conversation with the AP about how he planned to go public with allegations that the head of the Missouri Republican Party had made some anti-Semitic comments about him, just 13 minutes before police received an emergency call from his home, according to the report.

Schweich, who had Jewish ancestry but attended an Episcopalian church, was upset about comments people were making about his faith, with one ad calling him a “weak candidate” for the state’s highest office, and mocking him as someone who would be better suited to be a deputy sheriff of Mayberry, the fictional town from The Andy Griffith Show.

His spokesman, Spence Jackson, said that although Schweich had been through a tough and stressful campaigns, all campaigns are like that, and he appeared focused on his work which included an upcoming audit.

Clayton Police Chief Kevin Murphy said all indications are that Schweich died from a single self-inflicted gunshot wound, and an autopsy would be performed today.

Schweich had held his current position since January 2011, and he won election in November to a second term. He announced just last month that he would seek the GOP nomination for governor in 2016, where he was expected to face former U.S. attorney and Missouri House speaker Catherine Hanaway in the primary.