(AP) — An off-duty police commander was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon in downtown Chicago after he spotted a man matching the radio description of an armed suspect officers were chasing on foot, the city’s police superintendent said.

Cmdr. Paul Bauer was shot multiple times after he “saw the offender and engaged in an armed physical confrontation,” Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. He choked back tears as he spoke to reporters outside Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where Bauer was pronounced dead.

The shooting occurred near the James R. Thompson Center, the state government office building. Johnson said officers initially confronted the suspect because he was acting suspiciously. Police captured the man a short time later, and a gun was recovered at the scene, he said.

Bauer, 53, was a 31-year veteran of the department.