"Our hearts are broken."
Those were the words of Cincinnati, Ohio Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell as he addressed the media following the shooting death of one of the department's officers Friday morning.
Officer Sonny Kim died shortly after being shot by a suspect, who also died. Police have released few details into the incident, but said multiple shots were fired.
Kim was one of a number of officers who responded to a call for an individual with a gun behaving erratically, according to WCPO television station.
The fallen officer has been with the Cincinnati Police Department since 1988. He received 22 commendations in his 27-year career with the force.
The shooting death is the first time a Cincinnati police officer has been killed in the line of duty since 2000.
The city has been dealing with an increase in gun violence this year, WCPO reports. During the first five months of the year, shootings in Cincinnati were up nearly 25 percent, from 146 during the same period last year to 176 this year.
Blackwell released a 90-day plan to reduce crime earlier this month. The plan involved increasing foot patrols and reducing the availability of "criminal street guns."
When asked how the incident would fit into his crime plan, Blackwell said it "doesn't fit into anything.
"This is a tragedy and we're going to try to get through it," he said.
