A 20-year-old man was fatally shot early Friday morning during a confrontation with a private security guard in the parking lot of the Stargate nightclub in Maplewood.

According to Maplewood police, Chou “Tony” Yang of St. Paul was shot after he and at least five other men attacked one of the nightclub’s armed security guards about 1 a.m.

Someone in the group, possibly Yang, had been kicked out of the 18-and-older club at 1700 Rice St. right before the altercation, Police Chief Paul Schnell said.

The group chased the 28-year-old security guard, and when he fell, they surrounded and assaulted him, according to witness statements and surveillance video.

The security guard fired his handgun, striking Yang, who died at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.

No one else was shot.

The security guard, who has not been identified by police, had minor injuries and was cooperating with investigators.

“We are still trying to identify people involved in the attack with this officer and trying to ascertain what prompted this group mob mentality with the attack on the security officer,” Schnell said.

No arrests had been made, he said.

A Stargate employee later said that someone else in Yang’s party, and not Yang himself, had been kicked out of the club.

Schnell said it is not uncommon for private security companies to provide armed personnel.

JBM Patrol and Protection Services employed the guard.

“All of us at JBM Patrol & Protection Corporation are saddened by the incident at the Stargate Nightclub in Maplewood early this morning,” the company said in a Friday statement. “We are committed to cooperating fully with the Maplewood Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.”

Stargate, once shuttered because of the number of fights that occurred there, was taken over by new owners in December 2008 and reopened in May 2009.

Four people were injured outside the club in 2011 when a man used a box cutter in a fight.

A man was fatally shot in October outside a liquor store in the same strip mall as Stargate.

Jaime DeLage contributed to this report. Katie Kather can be reached at 651-228-5006. Follow her at twitter.com/ktkather.