SAN FRANCISCO >> Officers shot and killed a man who brandished what appeared to be a handgun but was actually an air gun after they told him to leave a restricted parking lot outside a San Francisco police station.

Police hit the 32-year-old man three times Sunday evening after he pulled from his waistband what was later determined to be an air gun, which fire metallic projectiles such as pellets or BBs, police spokesman Albie Esparza said.

The man, whose name has not been released, was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where he later died of his wounds. The officers were uninjured.

San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr said Monday that his department, like police across the nation, has heightened concern for officer safety following the ambush killings of two New York City police officers.

"This is a job where very sadly we lose officers," Suhr said. "It’s on all our minds. But we’ve got a job to do, so we’re going to do it."

The man who died had approached officers at the Mission District station earlier in the day and asked them what kind of guns San Francisco police carry, what kind of ammunition they use and if the officers had been involved in any officer-involved shootings, Esparza said.

The officers did not speak with the man. He lingered around the area and eventually left.

The shooting occurred about 5:15 p.m. after three officers noticed a man loitering in the parking lot of the station.

The parking lot is clearly marked as restricted to the public, but a gate is kept open for police vehicles to come and go, Suhr said.

Police ordered the man to leave, and he began to walk away toward the driveway of the station. As the sergeants walked to their vehicles, they noticed the man was standing in the middle of the driveway, staring at them and blocking them from leaving. The sergeants got out of their patrol cars and again told him to leave.

The man began backing out of the parking lot, facing the sergeants with his hands in his front shirt pockets. They asked him to show his hands. He lifted his sweater and showed what appeared to be the butt of a handgun, Esparza said.

When he reached for his waistband and pulled out the air gun, the officers opened fire.

The officers were placed on 10 days of paid administrative leave, which is standard in any police shooting. Suhr said he will hold a town hall meeting discussing the shooting, which rattled nearby residents.

Joann Kuhl, who lives a few blocks away, told the San Francisco Chronicle that her biggest concern was that the shooting might "fuel the fire of a really bad state of affairs between police and their community."