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St. Louis – from www.stltoday.com – Police say a man has died after closing himself in a bedroom and shooting himself during a visit from federal court officers.

According to a press release from the Maryland Heights Police Department, court officers were conducting a home visit in the 11000 block of Galaxy Court on a man. During the visit, the man became nervous and fled from the basement of the residence to a top-floor bedroom. Officers then heard what sounded like a gunshot.

The federal court officers called Maryland Heights police at 12:55 p.m. to the location, who found the man dead in the bedroom.

St. Louis Attorney Bill Margulis confirmed that the man was Matthew Kerns, who pleaded guilty in December to two counts of receiving child pornography. Kerns was scheduled to be sentenced on March 9.

Kerns originally was charged with two counts each of receiving and possession of child pornography last year. Under a plea agreement, the counts of possessing child pornography were thrown out.

Friday, a sentencing memorandum was submitted for Kerns, generally done for purposes of helping the sentencing process. In the memorandum, it was expected that Kerns would serve between 63 to 78 months in prison.

Margulis, who represented Kerns in his federal case, said the two met earlier Friday in Kerns’ office to discuss the case. Three hours later, he received a call that his client was dead.

“I didn’t get any indication that this was coming today,” Margulis said. “When I met with him, everything was fine.”