Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a corrections officer outside his Canarsie home Tuesday.

Police said they found the victim in a side yard at 8702 Avenue A near East 87th Street with a gunshot wound to his head around 3:15 a.m. Officials said Kenneth Duncan identified himself as an officer and returned fire.

Duncan died a short time later at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center.

Officials believe Duncan, who was working on motorcycles with a friend at the time of the shooting, might have been killed during an attempted robbery of those motorcycles.

"[It's] very sad," said Stephen Morello, of the Department of Correction. "He has been an excellent officer over the course of more than 17 years. He was respected. He'll be missed," Morello said of Duncan, who worked at the Manhattan Detention Center.

Police have not made any arrests yet, but are interviewing several people. Investigators also plan to look at security cameras from the area.

Duncan was an avid motorcyclist. Various motorcycle organizations banded together near his home following the shooting to publicly ask anyone who witnessed the shooting to come forward.