The province’s Special Investigations Unit is probing the circumstances surrounding an officer-involved shooting north of Napanee on Tuesday evening.

The SIU said in a news release that shortly before 6 p.m., a resident of Fifth Lake Road saw a vehicle in the ditch near the road’s intersection with County Road 14, near Enterprise. The resident went to the vehicle, but the man there told them to go away. The man told the resident that he had guns with him.

The resident left the man and called 911. An officer from the OPP’s Lennox and Addington County detachment responded to the scene and “interacted” with the man, police said.

Following the interaction, the SIU said that “the officer discharged his firearm multiple times, and the man was struck multiple times.”

The 48-year-old man died at the scene.

The OPP did not provide the victim’s identity, stating that it was unavailable at this time.

The SIU has assigned three investigators and three forensic investigators to the incident. At this time, one subject officer from the OPP and five witness officers have been identified.

A subject officer is one whose actions may have caused the death. Witness officers are ones said to be involved in the incident but are not the subject officer.

The post-mortem is scheduled for Thursday in Kingston.

The SIU is a watchdog agency that investigates whenever a person is sexually assaulted, seriously injured or has died while interacting with police in Ontario.

The resident refused to comment on the incident Wednesday morning.

At the scene, the vehicle, a four-door, silver Toyota Echo, was still in the ditch. Its rear-end was smashed in, and its front bumper was torn off. The SIU had left the scene before 9 a.m. and the OPP investigators had moved in.

The SIU is asking anyone who may have information about the incident to contact their lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529. The unit is also urging anyone who may have any video evidence to upload it through the SIU website.