Police fired Tasers at a police station with a knife-wielding man in Worcester County before a gunman shot and killed him, a police dog said.
They were called leaders West Midlands ambulance service to an address in Redditch at around 2pm on Christmas Eve after concerns for the safety of a 39-year-old man with a knife were raised.
West Mercia Police said they tried to deal with the incident in Fownhope Close for “several hours” but the man was shot at around 7.40pm and pronounced dead just after 8pm.
No one else was on the property at the time of the incident, the force said.
Assistant Chief Constable Dona Willings said: “We are not undermining the offense and anxiety of this local community and we want to reassure the residents that we will follow all the appropriate procedures, this includes immediate referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (. IOPC), in order to do justice.
“We will assist their investigation with all the information we have, including body camera footage.”
He said the IOPC seized a knife from the family and police are examining the weapons and looking at camera footage of the body.
He added that forensic investigators were examining the interior and exterior of the address on Wednesday.
The officers involved provided initial accounts of the events.
IOPC operations director Steve Noonan said: “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy. When a man has died after being shot by police, it is our duty to investigate all the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the actions and judgments of the officers involved.
“Although police shootings are thankfully rare, it’s understandable that people will be concerned when it happens, and it’s important to conduct a thorough and robust investigation into what happened. Our investigations are in their very early stages.
Officers were briefed on the office outside the three-story block of campus on Christmas Day, while forensic science officers were present, and a tent was set up at the back of the building.
According to statistics from the Inquiry, which looks at the deaths related to charity, there were two other capital shootings by the police in 2024 until August 16.
There have been 83 other damaging police reports since 1990, charity figures show.