A 37-year-old Spotsylvania County man who was attacking his girlfriend was shot and killed by the girlfriend’s son, the county sheriff’s office said.

They said John Conroy, Jr., was killed in a house on Towles Mill Road after an argument escalated and he began physically attacking her in her son’s presence, the sheriff’s office said.

In a statement, the office said the son, who is not related to Conroy, tried to intervene. Based on initial information, the statement said, the son, who is a juvenile, got a gun that had been in the room, and fired several shots. Conroy was hit at least twice, the sheriff’s office said. The son’s age was not given.