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 44-year-old man with a large knife wound to his neck behind the strip mall at 2505 Middle County Rd. and began rendering aid. First responders arrived about five minutes later.

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 the man was approaching the victim in an attempt to stab him again when an officer pulled out his weapon fired at him. The man, who was later identified as 29-year-old Emilson Yoan Ordonez-Vanegas was pronounced dead at Stony Brook University Hospital.

The victim, who also suffered a knife wound to the hand, was also taken to Stony Brook for treatment. He is expected to survive.

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

Suffolk police say they have also notified the attorney general's office.

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

"The officers quick actions definitely, if not, saved his life, saved him from serious physical injury for sure," Catalina said.

A man who identified himself to News 12 as Bonilla said he is friends with both Ordonez-Vanegaz and victim.

Bonilla said he was with friends in an area behind the strip mall on Saturday night. He said he woke up Sunday morning to the frightening scene.

"I hear the screaming. He was fighting with someone or something," he said. "All of a sudden I see somebody coming behind me. I saw he wanted to do something, you know?"

He told News 12 he couldn't believe what he witnessed.

"It's hard to swallow," he said.