Story highlights The New South Wales Police employee was leaving work when he was shot, police say

They say the gunman was shot dead after he fired on special constables who came out of the building

Hong Kong (CNN) A civilian police staff member was shot dead by a gunman outside a police headquarters near Sydney, Australia, as he was leaving work Friday, police said.

The gunman also was killed.

"An employee of the NSW police force has been callously murdered here today," Andrew Scipione, commissioner of New South Wales Police, said at a news conference Friday. "I have viewed a number of pieces of footage, and I can tell you that this was a brutal crime. It was a terrible crime."

Police say the gunman also fired shots at special constables who came out of the building. In the exchange of fire, the gunman was shot dead.

Edwin Almeida, a real estate agent at Just Think Sydney Real Estate, was in an office across the street from the shooting.

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