A D.C. police officer fatally shot a man who had what appeared to be a long gun during a confrontation Tuesday evening in an apartment building in Northwest Washington, the police said.

       The encounter began when police went to the area in response to a report of a man on a balcony who had a “long gun,” according to Police Chief Robert J. Contee III, who spoke briefly to reporters at the scene.

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       The man had what police later described as possibly an Airsoft gun during the encounter at 14th and V streets NW, according to police accounts. Airsoft guns fire nonlethal pellets.

       Officers “engaged” the man and tried in “multiple conversations” to de-escalate the situation, Contee said.

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       Several times, Contee said, the man went into an apartment and returned.

       “The last time, he emerged carrying a long gun,” Contee said. The chief said the man pointed the gun at officers.

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       At least one officer fired and the man was hit, according to police accounts. He died at a hospital, Contee said. Police did not immediately name him publicly.

       Police posted a photograph on Twitter that they said depicted an object that was recovered from the man.

       The photo appeared to show an Airsoft gun, which fires pellets propelled by compressed carbon dioxide and is used in recreation.

       In the briefing, Contee said the gun “appears to be some sort of Airsoft.”

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       He said an officer suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. He said he did not know the source of that officer’s injuries.

       The fatal shooting was the third time in about a week that D.C. police have shot someone. Last Tuesday, police said a man in Southeast Washington fired at an officer who returned fire, wounding the man. Last Wednesday, a D.C. police officer fatally shot an armed man after he was found “unresponsive” behind the wheel of a running vehicle in the travel lane of a Northeast Washington street, then awoke and pulled away from responding officers, authorities said. Police said the man had a gun in his waistband.