HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The Huntsville Public Safety Department on Wheeler Avenue became a crime scene when police say a man attacked one of their officers late Wednesday afternoon. Soon after this attack, the man was dead. Police say the investigation so far indicates this was not an isolated incident.

Capt. JesHenry Malone said it started at about 5 p.m. when a gray-colored minivan ran through the barricade protecting the police vehicles and rammed a patrol car with an on-duty officer inside. He said both drivers got out of their vehicles, at which point the suspect lunged at the officer with a knife. Police said another officer came to assist around that time. They said the man ignored their commands to drop the knife and continued to advance.

Malone said the officers then fired at the man, who was transported to Huntsville Hospital. Malone said the hospital contacted the department soon afterward to inform them the man had died. He was identified as 34-year-old Reginald Owens.

No one else, including the officers, was injured.

Malone and Huntsville Police Chief Lewis Morris both expressed their condolences to Owens' family, which includes a wife and at least two children.

"We're asking you all to help us pray for this family. This is a very tragic incident," said Malone. "But he is a human being just like the rest of us, and this is very tragic, and our hearts and our prayers go out to his family."

Police have not yet determined why the suspect attacked, but Malone said this was Owens' second incident with law enforcement in a chain of events that began earlier Wednesday. Malone said Owens is suspected of wrecking two other vehicles in the parking lot of the Alabama Department of Public Safety on Arcadia Circle. These included an Alabama State Troopers car and a forensics vehicle. Both of them were unoccupied.

"The difference was that there was no one that he made contact with in that parking lot, but a very similar incident to what occurred here," Malone said.

The investigation was still in progress Wednesday evening, but investigators believe Owens may have left the Highway Patrol office on Arcadia Circle when he didn't make contact with law enforcement and traveled to the station on Wheeler Avenue.

The investigation ahead will be a lengthy one. Malone said investigators will continue to collect evidence at the crime scenes. Owens' family and friends will also be interviewed to try to determine why he made contact with law enforcement on Wednesday. Malone said the immediate search through police records did not indicate Owens had previous run-ins with law enforcement.

Police are also investigating an unnamed section of southwest Huntsville they believe Owens may have been staying for at least the last few days.

"We're going to continue to follow up and investigate this," Morris said.

The investigation will include analyzing the police officers' actions. It is standard policy to place an officer on leave after a firearm is discharged while such an investigation is underway.

"We are professionals, but we're human beings. This is difficult, not only for the officer involved but it is difficult for us. It is difficult for his family, and it is difficult for his friends. But at the end of the day, someone has lost their life and that is most tragic," Malone said.

Additional photos from the scene by Jonathan Grass here.