SAN DIEGO — Authorities Thursday released the name of the San Diego police officer who fatally shot a suspect in City Heights last week.

Officer Mitchel Tani opened fire on Scholar Wang, 48, on Aug. 23 in a home on Bridgeview Drive, according to a news release from San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Tani has been employed by San Diego Police Department for nine years and is assigned to the canine unit.

Police officers first arrived at the home around 8 a.m. when a 911 caller reported an attack there, the sheriff’s department said. They found two women in their 70s who had been beaten with a piece of wood, “possibly part of a broken chair.”

The attacker, who authorities later identified as Wang, holed up in a bathroom and wouldn’t come out for police, according to officials. Officers used pepper spray to try to subdue the man before eventually sending in a K-9. Authorities say Wang fought off the dog using a “two-foot by two-inch piece of sharp ridged metal.”

Wang then “attempted to use it to assault an officer,” according to the sheriff’s department. Officer Tani opened fire, shooting Wang once.

Paramedics took Wang to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

First responders took the two women, who lived at the house where the attacks took place, to the hospital for treatment. They are both expected to recover.

The dog suffered what the sheriff’s department described as “a superficial cut above one of its eyes,” and the officers were uninjured.

Authorities said that Wang was believed to be a nephew of the women. Further information about what led up to the attack has not yet been released.

Matt Meyer contributed to this report.