An officer shot and killed an armed man outside of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville early Wednesday morning, Mooresville police said. 

It happened just before 4 a.m.

Mooresville police say they received a call about an armed man who told hospital staff that he was planning to harm himself in his vehicle, which was in the medical center's parking lot.

Officers say they responded and asked the man, later identified as 56-year-old Robert Berry, to drop his gun.

Berry put the gun down at first, police say, but then picked it back up. 

"Officers immediately responded to the threat with one service weapon being discharged five times," Mooresville police say. Officers on scene tried to help Berry before handing him off to medical staff. 

Berry died from his injuries at the hospital, police say. 

The officer involved, who has not been identified, was placed on administrative leave pending further investigation, which is standard protocol. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is investigating.