A Denver police officer shot and killed a bank robbery suspect in downtown Denver during Tuesday’s lunch hour as people enjoyed a sunny day in Civic Center or ate lunch with co-workers.

The man was parked in a silver car at the intersection of 14th Avenue and Bannock Street near the park and the Denver Art Museum when police and federal agents with the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force swarmed the block. They were trying to serve an arrest warrant for suspicion of bank robbery, Denver Police Chief Robert White said.

Pedestrians took cover, and drivers tried to navigate away from the block once shots rang out.

Evan Howell said he saw a woman holding a young child get out of the car after it turned onto Bannock. Other cars followed, and shots were fired, he said.

“She was holding the kid and screaming,” Howell said. “There was a bunch of screaming and then a bunch of shots.”

The woman and child were not in the vehicle during the shooting, White said. They were connected to the suspect, he said.

Later, friends and family of the dead man said the woman was his girlfriend. The couple had come downtown to pay a ticket, said Johnnie Miles, the man’s stepfather.

Authorities did not release the name of the bank robbery suspect, and his stepfather declined to make it public.

The confrontation happened about 12:30 p.m.

Members of the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, which includes local, state and federal officers, were following the suspect, who was being sought on a warrant for armed robbery, White said. The warrant was for a robbery that happened some time ago, but White did not have details on where or when.

Officers made a tactical move once the driver had parked his car, White said.

“It doesn’t appear he got out of the car,” White said of the suspect.

One Denver officer fired his gun, White said. No officers were injured.

A police department spokesman said it was protocol to wait 48 hours before releasing the name of an officer involved in a shooting.

Police did not say how many shots were fired, whether the robbery suspect was armed or whether he threatened officers.

Brenda Johnson, an employee in a building adjacent to the scene, said she was eating lunch with a co-worker on the third floor when they heard the shots.

Multiple gunshots were fired, but echoes off downtown buildings made it hard to count just how many she heard, Johnson said. She ran to a window and saw a man in the car’s driver’s seat but slumped toward the middle. The driver’s door was open.

There were multiple bullet holes in the car’s windshield, she said.

“It’s a tragedy,” Johnson said.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police vehicles surrounded the area, and most of the 1300 block of Bannock Street was cordoned off with crime scene tape.

Police set up a white canopy tent in the middle of the block as federal agents and Denver police combed the scene.

The shooting scene drew dozens of onlookers, including downtown workers and tourists, who milled about talking about what had happened and taking pictures and videos of police.

As the day wore on, the dead man’s family began arriving at the scene. Some stared at the car where he had been shot. Some cried.

The shooting also brought out Denver’s protest community, many of whom are vocal about police brutality and shootings. They heckled officers standing guard around the scene.

Tuesday’s officer-involved shooting was the third this year in Denver. All have been fatal.

Two officers fired their guns and killed Ramone Lonergan on Jan. 11 outside a hotel parking lot in the 2600 block of Zuni Street. Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey determined the shooting was justified and no criminal charges would be filed against the officers.

On Feb. 22, Gerardino Gonzalez was killed in a shootout after police responded to a burglary call near West 32nd Avenue and Lowell Boulevard. A Denver officer was injured in the shooting, which remains under investigation.

Miles, the stepfather, said the family had received very few details about what happened. He did not know how close his stepson’s girlfriend and her child were when the Denver officer fired.

“I just don’t understand,” he said.

Miles doubted his stepson would draw a weapon at police because the family is aware of the risk that action would bring to a minority man.

“I don’t think he would have done anything to risk his life, especially with the kids anywhere near,” Miles said.

Miles kept asking reporters what they had been told about the shooting.

“Did the chief say he shot at them?” Miles asked about his stepson. “But he knows his cop shot at him. He knows.

“To me, there’s always a way where this didn’t have to happen.”

Staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.