An 18-year-old high school student was fatally shot on Thursday after he opened fire at officers during an operation by federal and local law enforcement outside Pittsburgh, the State Police said in a statement on Friday.
The F.B.I., the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and officers from the Beaver County Municipal Police Task Force were conducting the operation in Aliquippa, a city of about 9,000 people, the statement said.
It said officers “attempted to contact” the teenager, Kendrick Curtis Jr. who “fled from the officers and, while fleeing, discharged a firearm towards them.”
“An officer returned gunfire, subsequently striking Curtis,” the statement said.
No officers were injured, the state police said, adding that it was investigating the incident and would present its findings to the Beaver County District Attorney.
Further details about the shooting and the operation were not available.
In an earlier statement on Friday, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Mr. Curtis was “shot by law enforcement officer(s)” on Thursday at about 6:20 p.m., and then transported to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh where he died early on Friday.
“It wasn’t an officer of Aliquippa-involved shooting, it was an A.T.F.-involved shooting,” Dwan Walker, the city’s mayor, told reporters late on Thursday.
“We will have answers,” he said. “We have to be patient enough to hear it out.”
He was not available to comment on Friday.
When asked about the shooting, the A.T.F. said in a statement emailed on Friday: “The A.T.F. and F.B.I. agents working in a joint investigation were involved in a shooting incident.” A spokesman did not reply to questions about the operation.
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The A.T.F. said in the statement that its Philadelphia Field Division was providing the support in the investigation.
An F.B.I. spokesman, citing the investigation, had no comment on Friday when asked about the type of operation officers had been conducting.
Mr. Curtis was a senior at Aliquippa Junior/Senior High School.
In a letter to parents, students and staff, Dr. Philip K. Woods, the superintendent of the Aliquippa School District, called the death a “tremendous loss.”
In another message, he said that a team would be available at schools on Friday to help those affected by it.
Christine Hauser is a Times reporter who writes breaking news stories, features and explainers.
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