The incident took place around 2 p.m. Wednesday on Sadama tänav in central Pärnu. The 54-year-old man died at the scene as a result of his injuries, the PPA said.

PPA station commander Üllar Kütt said the chain of events which led to the fatality began at around 1 p.m. Wednesday after a man called the emergency response center announcing he had shot his wife dead with a firearm. On investigating, the PPA found the woman he referred to had not been harmed.

"The call ended, and we immediately began checking the information we had received and identifying the man. We verified the owner of the phone number and his home address. Police officers entered the man's home in Pärnu, but found no one in the apartment. They then checked the area surrounding the building, but were unable to determine the man's whereabouts. At the same time, police established who the woman the man had referred to might be and contacted her. It turned out that the woman was fine and had not had any contact with the man in the meantime," Kütt said.

An hour later, at around 2 p.m., police received information that a man had displayed a gun-like object to a group of children on Sadama tänav and then left the scene. A PPA patrol located an individual matching the description on the same street.

"Police officers ordered the man to show his hands and lie down. The man ignored the orders and began walking toward the officers. At that point, he did not have a gun-like object in his hand. Then at one point, the man pulled a gun-like object from the waistband of his trousers with his right hand, and the officers ordered him to put the gun down. The man again failed to comply with the orders and pointed the gun at a police officer. The officer then fired one shot from his service weapon to neutralize the threat, hitting the man in the chest," Kütt said.

Immediately after the shot was fired, rapid response officers also arrived at the scene and began administering first aid and attempting to resuscitate him. Paramedics took over resuscitation efforts after an ambulance arrived, but these were unsuccessful and he died at the scene. No one else was injured in the incident.

According to information currently available, witnesses reported hearing a second shot in addition to the shot fired from the PPA officer's service weapon.

"According to preliminary information, the second shot may have been fired by the deceased man, who was holding a gun-like object that looked exactly like a firearm. What kind of weapon it was and whether the man fired a shot are still being determined," Kütt added.

Senior prosecutor Olgerd Petersell said the PPA had launched criminal proceedings to establish the sequence of events leading up to the use of the service weapon.

"We have now established that the man who died on Sadama tänav is the same individual who called the emergency response center at 1 p.m. All other circumstances, including what took place between that phone call and the man pointing a gun at the police officer, will be established in the course of criminal proceedings," Petersell said.

Kütt stood by his officer's actions in the incident. "Police always respond to incidents involving weapons with substantial resources because it is impossible to tell visually whether an object is merely gun-like or a lethal weapon. We always proceed on the basis that a person may be holding a firearm, and our main objective is to neutralize the threat as quickly as possible. In this case, the man had been moving around in a public place with a gun-like object and pointed it at a police officer, so the officers had to act decisively to ensure that the life of no bystander was put at risk. The use of a firearm is always a considered decision for police officers and is never taken lightly," Kütt continued.

The lawfulness of the officers' actions is also to be reviewed by the PPA's Internal Control Bureau as part of an internal investigation.

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