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A man shot dead by a Tucson policeman first punched the officer and tried to grab his handgun, then took his baton and began to beat him with it, police said Sunday.

In explaining the Saturday night shooting, police said Officer Douglas Dreher managed to pull away, drew his handgun and ordered the assailant to drop the baton and stop, a news release issued Sunday said. It said the suspect refused, held the baton over his head and stepped toward the officer.

The officer was "fearing for his life," the release said, and fired several shots. Police spokesman Sgt. Decio Hopffer said the baton could be considered a lethal weapon.

Hopffer said the dead man is a 35-year-old resident of Magdalena, Sonora, who was in this country illegally. Police are withholding his name until relatives are notified. Magdalena is about 60 miles south of Nogales.

Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, another police spokesman, said the Southwest Side incident started when Dreher stopped the vehicle the man was driving at 7:49 p.m. at a convenience store in the 1700 block of West Irvington Road. A routine records check revealed that the minivan's registration was suspended for lack of insurance.

The owner later reported that the vehicle had been stolen, the news release said.

The driver told Dreher that the minivan did not belong to him, and that he did not have a valid driver's license and was in the country illegally, the release said.

The officer requested help from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and was preparing paperwork to impound the vehicle when the suspect and a passenger ran away.

Dreher chased the driver, ordered him to stop and when he caught up, the two began to fight. Police declined to say how many shots were fired or where the man was hit.

He was pronounced dead at 8:08 p.m. Dreher was treated for minor injuries at the scene, Hopffer said.

Dreher, who's 24 and has worked for the Tucson police for two years, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, a routine procedure following shootings involving police, Pacheco said.

Police later found the passenger at his girlfriend's house and released him after he cooperated with investigators, Pacheco said.

The passenger's citizenship status has yet to be determined, but police suspect he, too, may be an illegal entrant, Pacheco said.

The shooting was the department's fifth involving an officer this year and the second fatal one, Pacheco said.