A South Carolina police officer was fatally shot at a mall on Wednesday after a struggle with a knife-wielding gunman, a law enforcement official said.

Officer Greg Alia of the Forest Acres Police Department died after responding with other officers to a call about a suspicious person, Police Chief Gene Sealy told reporters.

A suspect, identified as Jarvis Hall, ran from the officers into the mall, Sealy said. Alia caught up with him and was shot during an ensuing struggle.

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Hall, who was armed with a handgun and knife, was taken into custody, the police chief said.

Alia, 32, was a seven-year veteran of the police department in Forest Acres, a suburb of Columbia.

(Reporting by Mike Cooper and Letitia Stein; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Franklin Paul and Bill Trott)