This story was updated at 7:45 p.m. on Dec. 13, 2011.

Takoma Park police fatally shot a carjacking suspect Saturday as he assaulted an officer after a high-speed chase, police said.

The incident began at approximately 3:47 p.m., when Takoma Park police responded to the Sunoco Gas Station in the 6900 block of New Hampshire Avenue after a report of an assault with a knife.

Police said the assault victim was filling his vehicle with gas and left the vehicle to go inside the convenience mart at the gas station. When he returned, he observed the man, later identified by police as 19-year-old Keston David Lewis, in his vehicle and yelled at him to get out. Lewis demanded property from the victim and the keys to his vehicle, police said. A confrontation followed, and the victim was stabbed multiple times, police said.

The victim was transported to MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., where he underwent surgery Saturday night and is in critical condition, police said.

After the stabbing, Lewis got into his red Ford Focus, parked approximately 10 yards away, and rammed the victim’s vehicle before fleeing on New Hampshire Avenue, police said.

Two Takoma Park officers, whose names were released Sunday, arrived on the scene and picked up the pursuit.

Officer Mary Jo Walpole, an eight-year veteran with the department, saw Lewis’s vehicle overturned at Riggs Road and Metzerot Road after it had apparently struck three occupied vehicles, police said.

Meanwhile, Lewis had exited his car and was attempting to carjack an unidentified black female driving a red BMW who had stopped to see if she could help the victims of the collision, police said. An unidentified Hispanic man ran to the woman’s aid, briefly engaging Lewis until Walpole caught up with him and he fled again, police said.

Walpole pursued Lewis on foot and attempted to subdue him with a Taser, police said. The Taser had no effect, and Lewis then charged Walpole and assaulted her, police said.

Another Takoma Park officer, Cpl. Keith Largent, a 23-year veteran, arrived on the scene and, after ordering Lewis to stop, shot him multiple times, police said.

Lewis, of the 700 block of Linden Oak Place in Odenton, was transported to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Officers Walpole and Largent have been placed on administrative leave, which is departmental policy, police said.

The shooting is under investigation by the Prince George’s County Police Department.

The victim is still in critical condition but is improving, police said Sunday. They did not release the name of the victim.

Prince George’s County police are still searching for the black female driver of the red BMW and the Hispanic man who ran to help her during Lewis’s second carjacking attempt in order to learn more about the assault, police said.

Anyone who witnessed or was involved in the case should call Prince George’s County Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 301-772-4925.

akraut@gazette.net