APEX - Wake County sheriff's deputies found a 29-year-old man shot dead in his parents' home southeast of Apex on Sunday morning. Family members confirmed he is a cousin of baseball star and Raleigh native Josh Hamilton.

Deputies responded to a 911 call at about 9 a.m. Sunday and found the body of Benjamin Lloyd Hamilton at 5625 Windlake Court, said Phyllis Stephens, public information officer for the sheriff's office.

Benjamin Hamilton sometimes lived with his parents, Linwood Louis Hamilton Sr. and Rhonda Hamilton, at that address, Stephens said. Both parents were present during the shooting and when the deputies arrived, she said.

The Wake County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death as a homicide.

"This was not a random act," Stephens wrote in an e-mail.

The victim's parents are cooperating in the investigation, Stephens said. She did not yet know who made the 911 call.

Jason Hamilton, brother to Texas Rangers slugger and former Athens Drive High School star Josh Hamilton, said: "We played ball and all. They're distant cousins. I don't know exactly how close we are."