TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- A Terre Haute police officer who died following an exchange of gunfire with a homicide suspect Friday night was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head, according to the Vigo County Coroner.
The officer was identified Saturday as Rob Pitts, a 16-year veteran of the force.
Pitts and three other officers with the Terre Haute Police Department were looking for a potential homicide suspect Friday afternoon at the Garden Quarter apartment complex.
State police say the suspect started shooting at the officers from the second floor of an apartment building and the officers returned fire.
Pitts was wounded and later died at Terre Haute Regional Hospital.
The Vigo County Coroner says the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head.
The suspect was located around 9:15 p.m. when members of the Terre Haute Police Department SWAT team entered the apartment building.
He also died from his wounds. His name has not been released.
Pitts' visitation will be Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. His funeral will be held on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Both events will be at Indiana State's Human Center.
The last line of duty death for the Terre Haute Police Department happened on July 11, 2011.
Officer Brent Long was fatally shot while trying to serve a warrant on Shaun Seeley for a probation violation.
Seeley died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Long was a six-year veteran of the department.
MORE ON OFFICER LONG |Terre Haute police officer dies after shooting | Police identify suspected shooter in Terre Haute Officer's Death | Terre Haute honors fallen officer
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