JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- An 18-year-old is in the critical care unit Thursday night after he says he was shot by a police officer.

It happened in a government housing complex in Jefferson City around 6:30 p.m.

By phone, Volunteer TV asked the the man who was shot what led to the incident.

Cody McGowan says he doesn't know.

The 18-year-old says the Jefferson City officer chased him into the Hillview neighborhood and got out of his cruiser.

McGowan believes the officer thought he was trying to hit him with his car, so he fired.

WVLT counted seven shell casings around the scene.

McGale told us he was hit once and doctors told him it hit his lung and liver.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is involved and is not releasing much information at this time.

Witnesses told us the shooting seemed to come out of nowhere.

"He said he was going to get a Coke or something. Said he'd be right back," McGowan's aunt Bellva Covington told Volunteer TV. "The next thing I know, I did see him flying up through there and then the police officer went up through there."

McGowan says he's known the officer since he was in diapers, but he's never had trouble with him before.