NYSSA, Ore. -- Authorities were looking for a man they believe shot and killed an eastern Oregon police officer.

Nyssa officer Joseph Johnson, 43, died Saturday night after a man he had pursued in a car shot at him. The man fled and Johnson was dead when sheriff's officers and medical workers arrived, The Oregonian reported.

Johnson had been responding to reports the man was making threats and damaging property, the Malheur County District Attorney’s office said in a statement Sunday.

Nyssa, population 3,200, is near the Idaho state line about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Boise, Idaho.