A robbery suspect fatally shot a police officer in the Georgia port city of Savannah and wounded the officer's colleague before fleeing and being fatally shot by another officer during an ensuing search, authorities said Sunday.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said 50-year-old Savannah Police Sgt. Kelvin Ansari and 49-year-old robbery suspect Edward Fuller III were pronounced dead at a hospital where both were taken Saturday evening after being shot.

The bureau, Georgia's top law enforcement agency, said Ansari and Officer Douglas Thomas had answered a call about a person who had been robbed Saturday evening outside a Savannah barber shop. The statement said the suspect was in a vehicle and got out and fired on the officers, striking both.

Fuller then ran and police converged on a nearby area, seeking the suspect near a residence, according to authorities. When Fuller was spotted emerging from a backyard shed, he was pointing a handgun at officers and was shot by one of the officers, according to the bureau statement. The handgun was recovered and determined to have been stolen, the statement added.

Thomas, 40, was treated and released at the same hospital where the two others were taken.

A Savannah Police Department statement said Ansari joined the department in 2008. He worked in various units including patrolling, public housing enforcement and lately as a precinct supervisor. It said Ansari also had served 21 years previously in the U.S. Army.

"Last night we lost a great man," Police Chief Roy Minter said. "We lost a man who spent a substantial portion of his life protecting the country and protecting the community ... we lost a leader."

Savannah's police chief said the shooting investigation had been turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.