WASHINGTON, August 4. /TASS/. The US Department of Defense confirmed that a Pentagon Force Protection Agency officer was killed in a shootout near the Pentagon building on Tuesday.

"On behalf of everyone working at the Pentagon, and across the Department of Defense, I extend my deepest sympathies to the family, loved ones and colleagues of the Pentagon Force Protection Officer who died as a result of injuries he received this morning," US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

In his words, an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Woodrow Kusse, head of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, told reporters that a Pentagon police officer was attacked near the building on Tuesday, and gunfire took place during the incident. He confirmed that several people were injured as a result. In his words, FBI officers have arrived to the scene, and the investigation is ongoing.

Kusse said the investigation has not yet established the attacker’s motives, adding that it was too early to describe the incident as a terror attack. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, who was also present at the briefing, said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was not in the building at the time of the incident.

Associated Press reported on Tuesday that a Pentagon police officer was stabbed to death outside the building. The attacker was shot by police, the agency said.