Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has not released the identity of the man or the officer.
It all happened around 7 p.m. Saturday in a suburb south of Charlotte near the South Carolina border.
Police arrived to find the man holding a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint.
Officers tried to de-escalate the situation, but the man started stabbing the teen. That's when the officer opened fire.
First responders on the scene said the man died shortly after being shot.
The teen was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.