A man who refused to wear a mask at a high-school basketball game killed a police officer following a confrontation, authorities say

• A man in Louisiana was accused of fatally shooting a police officer named Martinus Mitchum.
• Police said the man got into an altercation as he tried to get into a basketball game with no mask.
• They said the man, identified as John Shallerhorn, shot Mitchum as he escorted him out of the game.

The police in Louisiana said they arrested a 35-year-old man who killed an officer who tried to break up an altercation over face masks at a high-school basketball game.

The New Orleans Police Department identified the officer as Martinus Mitchum, an officer in Tulane.

The police said that on Friday night, a man, who they identified as John Shallerhorn, tried to walk into a basketball game at George Washington Carver High School without a face mask.

They said that a school employee stopped the man, who punched the employee.

The police said that Mitchum, who was working security at the game, escorted Shallerhorn outside the school and that Shallerhorn then pulled out a gun and shot Mitchum in the chest.

Mitchum was taken to the University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

NOLA.com reported, citing a criminal complaint, that Shallerhorn was also accused of robbing someone in the school's parking lot minutes before the shooting. He has been charged with first-degree murder of a police officer and armed robbery.

Officials at the high school told NOLA.com that Mitchum was a "fixture" at school sporting events, adding that it was "with a heavy heart" that they "honor his memory."