A man who was fatally shot by an officer this week while he was in police custody was hit with multiple rounds.

Kevin Ryberg, 22, of Parker, allegedly attacked a Denver police officer on Tuesday while he was being taken in a patrol car to the District 2 station in northeast Denver.

Ryberg’s “cause of death was due to multiple gunshot wounds,” according to the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.

An autopsy was performed Thursday.

The coroner’s office did not release any additional details pending completion of the autopsy report, which could take several weeks.

Ryberg was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the Niagara House Motel, 6701 E. Colfax Ave., when officers were called there about a man with a gun, police said. He was taken into custody on a warrant for possession of a controlled substance and possession of a weapon.

Ryberg was being taken to the police station when something went wrong on the 6300 block of East 39th Avenue and the patrol car came to a stop. A second patrol car, following the car Ryberg was in, pulled up alongside the lead vehicle.

Ryberg “was able to get out of the handcuffs and attacked the officer,” police said. “”During the struggle, a second officer came to the assistance of the first officer” and Ryberg was shot, police said.

Ryberg was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police have not explained how Ryberg, who had prior arrests in Colorado, came to be in contact with the officer. A safety partition in patrol cars separates an officer from a suspect in the back seat.

Both officers were treated for minor injuries afterward and both have been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, a standard procedure, police said.

The officers involved were identified by the department on Friday as Tim Luke, a 14-year veteran, and Randall Krouse, a 13-year veteran. Both officers are assigned to District 2.

What role each officer played in the Ryberg incident was not released.

An archive search shows that Krouse has been in the news in the past.

In 2011 Krouse was featured in a Denver Post story about officers on bicycle patrols.

In 2005, Krouse was recognized by the department for saving the life of a 7-month-old infant in northeast Denver. Krouse answered a dispatch call to a home to help with an unresponsive child. He arrived about five minutes before paramedics and found a desperate 17-year-old mother who told him her baby wasn’t breathing. Krouse set the child on a bed, put his pinky finger inside the baby’s mouth and throat to check for obstructions and then performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, according to a 2005 Denver Post story.

In January 2006, Krouse used a Taser on the neck of a handcuffed drunk, Kenneth Rodriguez, 46, who ended up serving four days in jail after Krouse filed a report falsely accusing the suspect of assaulting another officer. A videotape of the incident showed Krouse asking, “Understando Taser?” before using the Taser while escorting the belligerent but unarmed Rodriguez into a holding cell.

In July 2003, Krouse was one of the officers at the home of 15-year-old Paul Childs, a developmentally disabled teen who was wielding a knife. Krouse was standing behind officer James Turney when Turney fatally shot Childs. Krouse was a witness in that case. Turney was suspended from the department for 10 months in the aftermath of the shooting.

No past news items about Luke were found.

The Denver District Attorney’s Office will determine whether the shooting of Ryberg was justified.

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kierannicholson