Metro Police fatally shoot armed man at gas station

WOOD RIVER, Ill. (AP) -

Police in the Metro East area of Illinois fatally shot an armed man who pulled a gun on officers at a gas station early Tuesday, authorities said.

The shooting happened at about 2 a.m. in the Madison County community of Wood River. According to KMOV- TV in St. Louis, a gas station employee was closing the business when she spotted a man with a gun and notified police who were in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant across the street.

Officers arrived at the station but the man had run off. A few minutes later, a woman called 911 to report that there was a man armed with a gun on her porch, and her description of the man matched that of the one given by the gas station employee had given police a short time earlier.

A short time later, according to police, officers spotted the man sitting near a space heater at the gas station. They approached the man and shot him when he pulled out a gun.

The officers from the community of Wood River and East Alton, the station reported. The 31-year-old man was pronounced dead a short time later. His name has not been released.