A man is hospitalized today after a confrontation with a plainclothes San Francisco Police officer ended in gunfire.

According to SFPD spokesperson Sergeant Monica MacDonald, plainclothes police officers were patrolling the area of 900 Connecticut Street, which is near the Starr King Open Space at about 7:50 p.m. Thursday.

MacDonald says that the officers saw a group of five males "huddled in a group behaving suspiciously." Though an SFPD spokesperson did not respond to follow up questions from SFist regarding what this suspicious behavior entailed, it was apparently alarming enough that, says MacDonald, "two officers exited their vehicle to get a better vantage point on the suspects."

At that point, MacDonald says, the group of men scattered into two groups, and one officer followed four of the men, and another officer followed the fifth, solo. The Chron reports that SFPD Chief Greg Suhr says that as the group of four suspects ran, the man that remained pointed a gun at the other officer.

MacDonald says that in response, "the officer drew his firearm and ordered the suspect to drop his gun. The suspect did not comply with the officer's order. The suspect advanced on the officer. The officer fired at the suspect striking him once in the the upper body," as the cop was, reports the Chron “in fear for his life."

The wounded man, who MacDonald says was carrying a gun "believed to be a loaded .38 caliber" weapon, was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with non-life threatening-injuries, and is in critical but stable condition. According to the Chron, this wasn't the man's first brush with law enforcement, as he "had been involved in a drug-related case in October" and, police say, had "small amounts of methamphetamine and heroin" on his person.

The four men who police say ran from the other officer were also detained, MacDonald says. One of them was also allegedly carrying meth, police say.

The officer who fired the shots will be placed on paid administrative leave until the investigation into the shooting concludes, which is department policy. A town hall meeting regarding the shooting has been planned for 6:30 Monday night, at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House at 953 DeHaro Street.