The Colorado Department of Corrections head was shot dead at his home Tuesday night, police officials said.

Tom Clements, 58, was shot in the chest at his home in section of Monument, Colorado, by an unknown man around 8:30 p.m. USA Today.

According to CBS NEWS Clements, lived in Monument and was appointed to serve as the head of the DOC by Governor John Hickenlooper in January 2011, reports CBS station KCNC in Denver.

He oversaw operations of state and private prisons and parole operations. Clements came to Colorado from Missouri, where he worked for 31 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Kramer informed that a family member called 911 to report the incident. By the time officers arrived Clements was dead. Officials are on manhunt to search the assailant.

"We have no more details than that," Hickenlooper wrote in an email to the employees of Department of Corrections. "I am so sad. I have never worked with a better person than Tom, and I can't imagine our team without him. ... As your Executive Director, he helped change and improve DOC in two years more than most people could do in eight years."

He described Clements as "unfailingly kind and thoughtful." Clements is survived by his wife and two daughters.