An off-duty police officer working at a Pineville, North Carolina, grocery store shot and killed a suspected shoplifter Tuesday, police said.

The sergeant was working in uniform off-duty at a Food Lion south of Charlotte when the officer tried to stop the suspected shoplifter, according to Capt. Corey Copley with the Pineville Police Department.

The person fought with the police officer and ran across the street, where they had another "physical altercation," Copley said in a news conference Tuesday. That's when "shots were fired," he said. 

Police did not say if the shoplifting suspect had a gun. The person died in the shooting, Copley said.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is investigating the shooting as a homicide, he said.