A Pittsburgh police officer shot and killed a Hill District man whom officers said had slashed another man during an altercation yesterday afternoon and refused to surrender when police arrived at the scene in Uptown.

Aucy Andrews, 59, was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:51 p.m.

Police were called about 10 minutes earlier about a fight in the 1600 block of Fifth Avenue at Van Braam Street.

Dispatchers enroute to the scene advised officers that a victim in the altercation had been stabbed in the neck. That 32-year-old victim was taken to a city hospital. His condition and identity were not released. His wound was not considered life threatening.

Upon arriving at the scene, an officer with a police dog was directed by the victim's fiance to a suspect walking near the scene.

The suspect approached the officer, ignoring police orders to stop, drop the knife he was holding and surrender, police Chief Nathan Harper said at a press conference last night. Chief Harper said the dog was sent at the suspect, and he tried to stab the animal.

The officer then pulled the K-9 away and fired at the suspect, killing him.

Witnesses to the shooting were outraged.

One witness said he saw the suspect raise his hands in surrender, but he refused to lie on the ground as the officer had commanded. The witness said the suspect was struggling with the police dog when the officer shot him three times.

The suspect collapsed to his knees and he was shot twice more, the witness said.

"They didn't have to do that to that man. They just shot him down like a dog," said Clarence Brown, 52, who said he was familiar with the suspect.

Some friends said they knew the suspect as a regular visitor who would hang out with others at the Gulf gas station about a block away from the scene on Fifth Avenue.

Chief Harper said the Allegheny County district attorney's office will investigate the incident.

The officer, an eight-year-veteran whose name was not released, has been placed on administrative leave. The officer has been with the K-9 unit for two years.

"It's a tragedy any time a life is taken," Chief Harper said, declining to take questions. "That's another reason the officer was placed on administrative leave, because it is hard to take a life."

The police dog was examined at an animal hospital and found to be uninjured.