Police responding to a disturbance in Centereach Sunday morning fatally shot a knife-wielding man, Suffolk police officials said.

Officers responding to a 911 call around 8:38 a.m. found a man with a large knife wound to his neck behind the strip mall at 2505 Middle County Rd and began rendering aid.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said a man wielding a 10-12 inch knife then emerged from a wooded area near the strip mall and began yelling.

Police said he was approaching the victim in an attempt to stab him again when he was shot by officers at the scene. He was pronounced dead at Stony Brook University Hospital.

The stabbing victim was also taken to Stony Brook for treatment.

The cause behind the original disturbance was not immediately clear. Catalina said homicide detectives and the internal affairs unit is probing the case.

He credited the quick actions of police for saving the victim's life.