A Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Police officer was found dead Tuesday morning in her patrol vehicle.

Corporal Pricilla Dean Pierson was found unresponsive in her vehicle and on duty in the parking lot of a local supermarket.

Police responded to the scene after a 911 call from a “concerned citizen” the department said on Facebook .

Pierson was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy was performed Wednesday. Ponchatoula Police Chief Bry Layrisson cited heart complications as a factor in Pierson's death. Layrisson said the 44-year-old officer had a blockage in one artery and had been experiencing high blood pressure that doctors had been monitoring, NOLA.com reports.

Tangipahoa Parish Coroner Rick Foster, in a text message to The Times-Picayune, said the Coroner's Office policy is to wait for toxicology results before releasing a cause of death. But, he wrote, "I can confirm what the police chief said at this time appears correct."

Cpl. Pierson bravely served the department for six years. She began her career as a part-time communications officer and earned her current position as a Cpl. in the patrol division, the department reported on Facebook. “She was a great person, wife, and an outstanding mother, according to Layrisson.”

She is survived by her husband, Capt. Larry Pierson, three children, and two step-children.