The mother of an aspiring country singer died in a home invasion stabbing in the family’s home in Virginia’s historic Shenandoah Valley before his father, who was also injured in the attack, grabbed a handgun and fatally shot the attacker, according to local authorities.

The intruder killed Holly Hatcher, a 62-year-old former teacher, before her husband, Michael Hatcher, 65, fired the fatal shot around midnight on Sunday, Aug. 3. Their 31-year-old son Spencer Hatcher, an up-and-coming country crooner, canceled several upcoming shows as his family deals with his mother’s death.

“Speaking personally, this is 31 years in law enforcement for me, I have never seen anything like this in my entire career, just the way the unusual, unique and just crazy situation that this turned out to be,” Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson said in a video posted to the department’s Facebook page.

“I’ve heard a lot of you say that there are no words to explain this, and there aren’t – and there’s going to be questions that will never be answered,” Michael Hatcher said in a video posted by the sheriff’s office. “But all I can tell you is, we’ve cried, we’ve hurt, we’ve hugged, and we have found more love than we have ever known has existed between us and between you. Thank you.”

In a statement, Holly Hatcher’s former employer, Rockingham County Public Schools, remembered her as a “beloved” colleague who spent 19 years there.

Spencer Hatcher signed with Nashville’s Stone Country Records in October.

“When Spencer first came onto my radar, his style and sky-high potential reminded me of a young George Strait, so I knew we had to sign him,” country music executive Benny Brown said in a press release announcing the deal. “He feels like the right artist arriving at just the right time in country music.”

In a post to his Instagram account, Spencer Hatcher told fans he was canceling at least three upcoming appearances: at the VOA Country Music Fest in Ohio and the Rockingham County Fair in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

“I hope to make these dates up to my fans in the future,” he wrote. “I appreciated everyone that has lent their support to me and my loved ones.”