CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Late Thursday night, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Donald Ray Oakes, Jr., 35, was in surgery after being shot by police. In an e-mail, Officer Robert Fey said Oakes' injuries are life-threatening and he remains in critical condition.

Two officers shot Oakes after he stepped out of a van and fired twice at them Thursday evening in front of a gas station in north Charlotte, police said.

The wounded man was wearing a bulletproof vest, said Police Chief Rodney Monroe during a news conference at the scene of the shooting on North Tryon Street at Bennett Street.

Monroe said Oakes was alert and talking as medics loaded him into an ambulance. Two police cars followed the ambulance as it rushed Oakes to Carolinas Medical Center.

The incident began when two officers tried to pull Oakes over at 36th and Tryon for an expired tag violation about 8:30 p.m., but he did not stop and continued on for several blocks, police said.

He pulled into a Texaco station at Bennett Street, then Oakes got out of the driver's seat and fired two shots at the officers who then scrambled for cover and returned the fire, according to Monroe.

The officers were not hurt. Customers were inside the gas station at the time of the shooting, but none of them were hurt.

Police recovered a handgun at the scene. The crime scene investigation was expected to last well into the early-morning hours.

Fey said the department would release more information Friday morning, including the names of the CMPD officers involved.

Channel 9 discovered Oakes' criminal record. He's been convicted for armed robbery, resisting officers, assault on a female, unauthorized use of vehicle and carrying a concealed weapon, among others.