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The 46-year-old man was armed with a gun and refused police orders to put his hands up, said St. Louis police Maj. Janice Bockstruck. He was shot around 9 a.m. in the 8400 block of South Broadway, near Marceau Street in south St. Louis. Bockstruck said the police SWAT unit went to search the home about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in a drug and guns investigation. The tactical officers ordered everyone to come outside. Bockstruck said they spent 10 to 15 minutes telling people to leave the home, and almost everyone inside came out. "They do everything humanly possible to preserve life, that is their job," she said. "We want a peaceful resolution." Police thought everyone had evacuated safely. When the tactical team went into the residence, they encountered a man who told them he had a gun, she said. Bockstruck said that man was the "target" of the drug and gun investigation. When he refused to surrender, Bockstruck said the tactical officer, fearing for his life, shot the man. The suspect died at the scene. The officer is 32 and has been an officer for nine years. No officers were hurt. Authorities did not provide details about the gun and drug investigation. Bockstruck said she didn't know how long police had been investigating the case, though it was long enough to get a judge to sign the search warrant. Jenna Rodgers, 29, told the Post-Dispatch she was a friend of the man who died. She has visited the house a lot, she said, and arrived after the shooting to take some of her belongings out. She said her friend "didn't do drugs" — but sold them. She said she never saw him as someone who would confront police with a gun. "He would stand down, for sure," she said. "If anything, I thought they'd be coming for his brother," Rodgers said. "He's the violent one having the guns." Eddie Tucker, who owns a bar and other properties on the block, is president of the local business association. "We've been trying to clean these dope houses up for years," Tucker said. "This whole neighborhood is dope." Tina Griffy, whose daughter lives in the home where the shooting occurred, said the man who died was her daughter's best friend. "He gave my daughter a place to live," Griffy said. Griffy said her daughter told her what happened. "They were hollerin' SWAT," Griffy said. "And (he) gave her a hug and said I love you." He went into the basement, while Griffy's daughter and others in the home left as police instructed. The daughter thought her friend was retreating to the basement to kill himself, Griffy said. Griffy said she thinks he had no intention of getting arrested and going to jail.