BIG FLATS - A New York state trooper was shot and killed Wednesday in a gun battle with two bank robbers in rural western New York, and both suspects were wounded and later captured, state police said.

Trooper Andrew Sperr, 33, a 10-year veteran, came upon the men about an hour after the midday bank robbery in the hamlet of Big Flats, Major Steven White said.

When he approached their truck a few miles from here, they opened fire and Sperr managed to shoot both of them before dying of multiple gunshot wounds, White said.

Sperr, the youngest of 11 children, “did his job but it cost him his life,” White said at a long-awaited news conference shortly before midnight.

At least one other suspect was being hunted and was believed to be driving a 1997-model Ford Taurus with New York license plates, police said.

Sperr was the 23rd trooper felled by gunfire since the New York State Police was formed in 1917. “Our prayers are with his family,” Gov. George Pataki said.

The suspects, Anthony Horton, 33, and Brian Adams, 45, were in satisfactory condition at hospitals and were each charged with first-degree murder, White said.

Horton entered the Chemung Canal Trust Co. in Big Flats, handed over a note demanding money and left with about $1,900, White said. He then fled in a vehicle along with at least one other man, and witnesses gave police partial descriptions, White said.

Sperr was alone when he drove up to a pickup stopped on a road about five miles from the village, and a gun fight erupted. Although he was wearing a protective vest, he was hit in the torso and killed, White said.

Afterward, Horton retreated to a nearby hotel and Adams showed up at an Elmira hospital with a gunshot wound, White said.

Horton turned himself in when police arrived at the hotel. He had four bullet wounds but none were life-threatening, White said.

About 20 police units were mobilized in the area of Big Flats after Sperr's body was found.

All schools in the Horseheads and Elmira Heights school district were locked down, and parents were told to pick up their children and sign them out at the end of the school day.