Boston police responding to a double shooting in Dorchester this morning fatally shot a man who failed to put down his gun, Police Commissioner William B. Evans said.

Officers were responding to a report of a shooting at 10:25 a.m. at a home on Devon Street when they encountered two people – one assisting the other, who appeared to be shot in the leg – nearby at Stanwood and Laredo streets, Evans said.

One of the men showed a gun, which officers repeatedly ordered him to put down, he said.

“Over the police radio, everybody could hear three commands, ‘Drop your gun! Drop your gun! Drop your gun! Show me your hands!’” Evans said. “At that point, there was an exchange of gunfire.

“Obviously, our thoughts go out to his family,” he added. “…But if you’re going to shoot at an officer, you leave us with no choice.”

Evans would not release the dead man’s name until his family could be notified. But he said the man was “well known” to officers and had faced several firearms charges.

A gun was found at the scene, Evans said, and inside the Devon Street home, police found one person with multiple gunshot wounds.

In all, five officers were involved in the incident, he said, and some of them were taken to the hospital due to stress.

“I don’t think they could ever imagine what they walked into here,’’ Evans said. “Nobody takes joy in what happened here today.”

Rohan Thomas, 39, said he was at work when his wife, who was at home with their two children, called and said she “heard shots, people running right outside my house. She saw bodies.”

“This is horrible,” Thomas said. “This is not safe. I don’t even let my kids outside.”

The Rev. Eugene Rivers said the man’s death is “obviously a tragedy. We send our prayers out to the family of the deceased and commend the Boston Police Department for its professionalism and restraint.”

Immediately after the shooting, Evans reached out to community leaders, he said.

“Because of the police work that was done … you don’t get the responses you get (to police shootings) in Baltimore and other cities,” Rivers said.

He said his hope is to “communicate to the community: No foul play … The police are innocent until proven guilty … There’s no evidence of overreaction or excessive force.”

So far this year, Boston police have taken 80 guns off the street, twice as many as in all of 2015, Evans said.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “Eighty guns – it’s almost two a day. We can’t do it alone.”