A police officer responding to a rollover car crash in an Indianapolis suburb on Thursday afternoon was fatally shot by a person in the wrecked car, the authorities said.

Lt. Aaron Allan of the Southport Police Department was the first officer to arrive at the scene of the crash around 2:30 p.m. and was shot as he approached the car, which had flipped off a roadway and rolled into the front yard of a home. Lieutenant Allan was taken to a hospital, where he later died, police officials said.

Image Lt. Aaron Allan was named the Southport Police Department’s officer of the year in 2015. Credit... City of Southport Indiana Police Department

“He responded to a crash with urgency to preserve life,” Thomas Vaughn, the chief of the Southport Police Department, said at a news conference at the hospital. “Tragically, his was lost.”