Two rookie Barrie, Ont. cops involved in a stabbing incident that ended with their assailant being shot to death are described as being in serious but stable condition in hospital, police there said Monday.

Consts. Clayton Speers, 29, and David Edgar, 26, joined the city's police service last December, being sworn in as fourth-class constables. The Barrie natives started their own patrols in April.

However, they have made history by being the first officers in the 156-year history of the Barrie police to be involved in an incident where an officer shot and killed someone in the line of duty.

In Sunday morning's incident, Speers came across a man reportedly acting strangely. He called for backup. Edgar arrived.

However, a confrontation developed. The man eventually pulled out a knife and attacked them.

"As a result of this interaction both officers suffered critical injuries and the male was shot," the Special Investigations Unit, the civilian agency that reviews incidents where someone dies while in contact with the police, said in a news release on Sunday afternoon.

Witness Cheryl Jamieson said the suspect would not drop the knife. One officer then fired six shots at him.

Paramedics rushed the two officers to Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie for emergency surgery.

The 48-year-old Barrie man was pronounced dead at the same hospital. He hasn't been publicly identified yet pending notification of relatives.

The SIU continues to investigate.

"We don't know what led to (the confrontation)," Chief Wayne Frechette said. "One (of the officers' injuries) was considered more life-threatening than the other, but both were very serious.

"Eventually, they are going to be OK," he added. "They're resting comfortably, as comfortably as one can be after major surgery."

In videos that appear on the Barrie police website, Speers talked of how Barrie had some big-city problems "(but) it's still very much small town."

Edgar said Barrie's community policing model "means a lot of interaction and proactive policing," he said.  "That's something that's important to me."

With files from The Canadian Press