UPDATED Wednesday, Sept. 27: Eugene police have publicly identified the man fatally shot by police as Roger Craig Nielsen of Lane County, 31.

Eugene police spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin said in a written update that the involved officers' identities "are being withheld pending investigative interviews" by the Lane County Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team.

***

Police fatally shot a man who reportedly threatened to kill a woman and her child and later pointed a rifle at officers in Eugene, an official said Tuesday.

Two officers shot at the man, who died at a hospital, Eugene police spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin said in a news release. The officers weren't hurt. No one involved has been publicly identified.

McLaughlin, citing preliminary information, said a woman reported "a man had held her and a child hostage at rifle-point and threatened to kill her and her child" at a Corliss Lane apartment. The woman and her male friend pushed the man outside, McLaughlin said, and he left on foot.

A 911 caller reported the man with the rifle told the woman he wanted police to fatally shoot him, McLaughlin said.

An officer later spotted someone matching the man's description in one of the apartments, and police asked him to come out with his hands up, Eugene Police Chief Pete Kerns told media assembled at the scene.

"Instead, he came out with the rifle," Kerns said. "Our understanding is that he pointed or aimed the rifle at the officers who were calling to him."

Two officers fired their weapons, and the man was hit. Police then aided the man, and he was taken to a hospital.

Kerns said two officers are now on administrative leave, as is standard practice after police shootings.

"I can tell you that these are some of the most difficult and complex incidents for police to respond to, and because they are, we train on these types of situations," Kerns said. "Our officers and sergeants have debriefed incidents like this one in the past, and ... our officers handled this in exactly the way that I expect them to."

The Lane County Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team will investigate. Police were called to the apartment complex shortly before 3:40 a.m.

— Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com

503-221-8005; @Jimryan015