ST. LOUIS (AP) – A new St. Louis police officer has been injured during a struggle with an armed man.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/1N3hEIi ) that the 24-year-old probationary officer was patrolling with a sergeant in a marked car around 9:45 p.m. Sunday when they saw a man acting suspiciously in the Fairground neighborhood.

The man ran, and officers chased him through an alley. As the officer and the man struggled, the man fired a gun, which struck the officer. The officer then drew his own weapon and fired three times.

The 23-year-old man was not hit, and officers arrested him.

St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson says the injured officer was taken to a local hospital with a non-life-threatening wound in the left neck and shoulder area.

The officer graduated from the police academy Oct. 29.