ATLANTA » Police officers in Atlanta fatally shot a woman who first fired at them while sitting in the back of a patrol car Thursday, authorities said.

Two officers were investigating a call about a stolen car Thursday afternoon when they saw a woman sitting inside the vehicle in a parking deck, said Major Darin Schierbaum.

He said they took the woman into custody and put her in a patrol car, and that at one point she fired at least two shots at the officers. Schierbaum said the officers returned fire, critically wounding her. She later died at a hospital, he said.

Schierbaum said it’s unclear how the woman was able to fire a gun while in the patrol car and that police are investigating whether she had been handcuffed. Her identity wasn’t released. The two officers weren’t injured, Department spokesman Greg Lyon said.

Police are looking for surveillance footage from the surrounding area, Schierbaum said. The shooting happened outside a downtown Atlanta precinct.

Both officers are black, as was the woman, Lyon said. The officers are on administrative leave while the investigation continues, he said.