A 25-year-old man was killed Sunday at his Jason Franklin Road home when a tree he was cutting down fell on him.

Deputy Bulloch County Coroner Richard Pylant said Devon DeLoach, 25, was cutting down a tree with a friend around 3:30 p.m. Sunday when they encountered difficulty making the tree fall.

DeLoach stepped away from the tree to get a chain with which to pull it down and "stepped into the fall zone" when the tree fell unexpectedly, Pylant said.

The friend helping DeLoach yelled a warning, but DeLoach was unable to avoid the falling tree, and it struck him in the head, Pylant said. People at the scene attempted to revive him but were unsuccessful.

DeLoach's wife, Lauren DeLoach, is expecting a child in March. He is the stepson of Bulloch County Probate Judge-elect Lorna Glisson DeLoach and her husband, John Corbett DeLoach.

Pylant said this is the second tragic accident to strike the family in recent years. Devon DeLoach's sister, Krissi Jade DeLoach, was killed in a vehicle crash a few years ago, he said.

DeLoach graduated from Portal High School in 2010 and completed Ogeechee Technical College's Law Enforcement Academy in 2011.

He worked as a Bulloch County sheriff's deputy from 2011 to 2015, then left to work with his father at DeLoach Exterminating. He was a member of Friendship Baptist Church.

A gathering of family and friends will be held 6-9 p.m. Wednesday at Hodges-Moore Funeral Home, and the funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Statesboro Primitive Baptist Church. Burial will follow in Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery.

Pylant said Lauren DeLoach approved organ donation for her husband through Lifelink.

Herald reporter Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.