SUNNYVALE (AP) — Police in Northern California say officers responding to a liquor-store robbery shot and killed a suspect reportedly armed with a knife.

The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety says an officer on Wednesday spotted the suspect leaving the store and confronted him in a nearby alley, still holding the knife believed to have been used in the robbery.

Deputy Chief Dave Pitts tells the San Jose Mercury News that said at some point during the encounter, the officer opened fire. The wounded man was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police did not immediately identify him, but said he was in his 20s.

Pitts says a knife was recovered at the shooting site. He declined to comment further on the circumstances of the shooting, citing an ongoing investigation.