The Georgia Tech Police Department responded to a 911 call about a person reportedly carrying a knife and a gun near a school dormitory at approximately 11 p.m. Saturday (0300 GMT Sunday), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said in a press release Sunday.
Officers arrived at the scene and tried to make contact with Scout Schultz, 21, who was holding a knife, outside a campus parking garage, according to the release, Xinhua news agency reported.
The release said Schultz was not complying with verbal commands as he approached the officers before one of them fired, striking him.
Schultz was taken to a local hospital but died later, the release said. No officers were injured during the incident.
Videos taken by witnesses showed Schultz appeared to be walking barefoot, with an object in his right hand. He can be heard yelling "shoot me" to the officers who urged him to drop the knife.
"Nobody wants to hurt you, man. Drop the knife," one officer was heard shouting back. A single shot rang out later before Schultz fell on the ground and screamed in pain.
The officer who took the shot was not named. It remains unclear whether investigators ever found a gun or any disciplinary action would be carried out.
"Our son, Scout Schultz, was killed last night by the Georgia Tech police," Schultz's father, William Schultz, wrote on Facebook Sunday.
"He had a tiny knife." the father said. "They didn't have to shoot him in the heart, but that's what they did."
Schultz was a four-year computer engineering student from Lilburn, northeast Atlanta, according to a statement released by the Georgia Institute of Technology on Sunday morning.
The Georgia Tech Pride Alliance, a Georgia Tech organization for LGBTQIA students and their allies, said it was saddened by the death and remembered Schultz.
The GBI said it will continue investigating what occurred during the incident.