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A man died after he was shot by police in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County on Thursday afternoon, police say, shutting down a portion of Richmond Highway during rush hour.

Officers shot the man in a McDonald's parking lot in the 6300 block of Richmond Highway, just south of the Capital Beltway and the City of Alexandria, police said after 4 p.m.

An officer investigating a stolen U-Haul found at a gas station interacted with the driver of the U-Haul, who attacked the officer, pushing him into the driver’s seat of his cruiser and assaulting him from on top of him, police said.

The officer under attack radioed he was being attacked and his assailant had his gun, police said.

“This scene was highly unusual, and I’ve been on a lot of these scenes,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said. “I have never quite seen something like this. That police officer was literally inside his own police car fighting for his life.”

During the struggle, the cruiser went in reverse and spun out of control into the parking lot of the McDonald’s next door.

A 24-year veteran of the police force responded and pulled the suspect off the officer before shooting the suspect, police said.