The owner of an orchard in the rural area southwest of Ceres found a body of a man who is believed to have committed suicide Monday morning.

Authorities were summoned to an orchard near the canal in the Morgan and E. Grayson roads area after the discovery was made at around 10 a.m. They found a deceased 22-year-old Hispanic man lying on the ground with a gun in his hand.

“We’re 99 percent sure it was a suicide,” said Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Veronica Esquivez.

The name of the victim was not released. He lived in the area down the road, Esquivez reported.

The man’s family had called 9-1-1 to report him missing about an hour before his body was discovered.

“It’s very sad,” commented Esquivez on Tuesday. “I think his birthday was today and he would have been 23.”

The department is awaiting results of the autopsy, which will be performed this week, before officially ruling the death as a suicide.