A man who tried to rob a Metairie taxi driver at gunpoint was shot and killed when the cabbie fired his own pistol in self-defense early Monday morning, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The death of Gerald Pope, 23, was classified as a justifiable homicide, said Capt. Jason Rivarde, a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson. The taxi driver, 43, will not face criminal charges, according to authorities.

The shooting occurred just before 1 a.m. near the intersection of Robertson Street and Merit Way (map)

The cab driver, who was not publicly identified, shot Pope multiple times. He was pronounced dead at the scene, said Tim Genevay, a spokesperson for the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office.

“The driver was presented with a threat to his life,” Rivarde said in explaining why the shooting is being considered justifiable.

Sheriff’s Office investigators suspect Pope is the man who robbed two other drivers from the same cab company, according to Rivarde.

Pope matched the description of the robber in a holdup at 3 p.m. the day before the shooting and another reported last week, Rivarde said. No other details were immediately available about the two earlier robberies.

When asked why the Sheriff’s Office did not release any information about the fatal shooting on the day it occurred, Rivarde said, “The sanctity of the criminal investigations comes before anything. In an investigation like this, ensuring that information about the shooting was not publicly available was very important.