By Greg Hambrick and Deb Belt

Updated at 11:25 a.m. Monday LANDOVER, MD — A Prince George's County Police officer shot Sunday died in what is described by authorities as an ambush by two brothers, one of whom was wounded.

Officer Jacai Colson was fatally shot at the District III station in Landover, according to Prince George's County Police. He was a four-year member of the department and would have celebrated his 29th birthday this week. Prince George's County Police Chief Hank Stawinski said, "One of your defenders lost his life in defense of this community today. This was an unprovoked attack. Our officers were going about their business and were attacked."

Colson was assigned to the Narcotic Enforcement Division. Police said late Sunday night that he was fatally wounded after exchanging gunfire with a suspect outside the District III station, which is attached to police headquarters in Palmer Park. Investigators say a suspect opened fire outside the front doors of the station around 4:30 p.m. and Colson returned fire. Colson was shot and died a short time later.

The two suspects in custody in the shooting are brothers, identified as Malik Ford and Michael Ford, both of Temple Hills, reports The Washington Post. A woman who lives nearby says that when the gun battle began, she thought someone was lighting firecrackers. As nurse Lascelles Grant looked out her window to see what was going on, she saw a man dressed in black armed with a handgun. Gunshots sounded and Grant ran to her bathroom with her baby for safety as police officers charged the shooter. "I'm like, 'Oh my God, look at all these police officers running out, putting their lives really in danger,' " she told the Post. The suspect shot at the first officer he saw and kept shooting as police responded, the police chief said.