The gunshot wounds suffered by two Huntington Beach police officers this week while responding to a man allegedly slashing car tires with a knife in a neighborhood were the result of gunfire between officers, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said on Friday.

“Based on (a) preliminary investigation, it appears the officers were injured by friendly fire,” a statement says. “Both officers were medically examined and have since been released from the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.”

One officer was struck in the lower extremities, and the other higher in the body.

The Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

The suspect was hit by police gunfire in the Thursday, Sept. 7 incident that broke out around 7 a.m. when the officers were called to Delaware Street and Utica Avenue by residents.

Officers chased the 29-year-old suspect on foot and they were between multi-family complexes when the shooting happened. Jaimee Blashaw, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, declined to provide more details on the officers’ gunshots.

Investigators found the knife the suspect was allegedly holding. The suspect was still hospitalized on Friday with non life-threatening injuries. His name has not been released yet.