Robert Cameron Redus, a 23-year-old senior at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW), was shot and killed by a school police officer in what started as a traffic stop outside an off-campus apartment building.

According to ABC News, Cpl. Christopher Carter, of the UIW Police, pulled Redus over around 2:30 a.m. Friday for erratic driving "at a high rate of speed." Police said, "a struggle ensued between the suspect driver and the police officer" in the Tree House Apartments parking lot, adjacent from campus.

Redus was pronounced dead at the scene, but it is not known exactly what started the struggle and how it escalated. A witness, who later learned the victim was his upstairs neighbor, said he heard Redus' last comment to Carter before gunshots rang out.

"I heard [a man] say, 'Oh, you're gonna shoot me?' like sarcastic almost," Mohammad Haidarasl, 22, told MySanAntonio.com, including he heard four to six gunshots less than a minute later. "I jumped up and hid in my closet."

Haidarasl said he was home and sitting on the couch of the ground floor Tree House apartment when he heard the exchange and gunshots. He did not peer out his window until he heard the sound of emergency vehicles arriving on the scene.

When Haidarasl found out the victim lived above him, he described Redus as "the nicest guy." Redus' friends were perplexed by the incident.

"He's not an aggressive person at all, so the story just doesn't really make sense to any of us," Sarah Davis, one of Redus' longtime friends, told KTRK.

"Cameron was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest person," said another friend Annie Jones. "So compassionate."

According to ABC News, Carter has been placed on paid administrative leave for the duration of an investigation, per policy. The Alamo Police Department and Texas Rangers are conducting the investigation and, meanwhile, Redus' family has hired an attorney.

It is still not clear what led to the shooting, but Alamo Heights police Lt. Cindy Pruitt told MySanAntonio.com Carter and Redus exited their vehicles before it began. She also said Carter radioed for backup during the struggle. It is also not clear what legal action, if any, Redus' family will take.

"We are understandably devastated by the death of our dear son Cameron and we ask for your prayers as we deal with our tragic loss," the family said in a statement. "We trust that God is faithful and will see us through this most difficult time."