PONTOON BEACH, Ill. (KMOV.com) — A Pontoon Beach, Illinois police officer died after being shot Tuesday morning.

Illinois State Police told News 4 the officer was shot while approaching a suspected stolen vehicle at the Speedway gas station on Route 111 near E. Chain of Rocks Rd. before 8 a.m. A man was taken into custody on the scene.

The officer was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and was later pronounced dead. He was identified by Illinois State police as Officer Tyler Timmins. The BackStoppers are assisting Officer Timmins’ family.

Officer Timmins, 36, had been an officer in Madison County for 14 years, police said at an afternoon press conference. He served in Roxana, Worden and Hartford before joining the Pontoon Beach police force in April 2020.

Russell Morrow was headed to work across the street from the Speedway when he heard the gunshots. “I heard was ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,’ gunshots and I walked over there, and there was only two cop cars over there. They arrested one guy lying on the ground, I guess he stole a vehicle, that’s what I heard,” he said.

After the shooting, Morrow said officers started doing CPR on the injured officer. The officers then worked to get the injured officer into a police car. “I slid myself through a police car trying to help pull him through the police car so they could get him to the hospital,” explained Morrow.

When talking to News 4 Morrow said he still had the officer’s blood on him. He did not know how many times the officer was shot during the incident.

Tuesday afternoon, Senator Dick Durbin took to Twitter to send his condolences to Officer Timmins’ family. “Sending condolences and prayers to the family and friends of Officer Tyler Timmons, who made the ultimate sacrifice protecting his community. May he rest in peace,” he wrote.

A multitude of agencies, including Edwardsville, Granite City and Illinois State police, are assisting Pontoon Beach police at this time.