Two Boston police officers were shot in the Orient Heights neighborhood of East Boston late Wednesday night, and a suspect was shot dead at the scene, police said.

Police Commissioner William B. Evans said early Thursday that one officer was shot multiple times and was in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital. A second officer was shot once or twice and was in stable condition.

“One of my officers is being treated for life-threatening injuries while the other’s injuries appear to be non-life,” Evans said on Twitter early Thursday.

“We’re praying they’re both going to be fine,” Evans told reporters.

Evans did not identify the suspect or the officers.

Evans said the officers were injured during a “possible domestic incident” that appeared to have escalated at the residence. Police said the shooting occurred in the area of 136 Gladstone St.

He said he and Mayor Martin J. Walsh were headed to the hospital to meet with the officers’ families.

Boston Police issued a shelter-in-place order for the area around Gladstone Street, but lifted it shortly after midnight, police reported on Twitter.

“Scene is secure. Residents kindly asked to remain inside,” police wrote.

Evans commended officers for their actions. “They moved in and neutralized the threat pretty quick that no one else got killed,” he told reporters.

Multiple streets were blocked off near the crime scene early Thursday, as scores of Boston and State Police, SWAT units, and Transit and Winthrop Police scoured the area. Media were staging around the corner from the scene on nearby Walley Street and were awaiting an official update.

Bystanders were shocked by the shootings.

Marcus Ramirez of Lynn watched the police operation unfold from the corner of Bennington and Walley streets.

He said he heard reports of a shooting on social media while he was at his job at FedEx on McClellan Highway.

Travis Andersen/globe staff

Media waited for an early morning briefing outside Mass. General on two BPD officers shot in East Boston.

“I just saw cops driving fast by Suffolk Downs,” he said.

Lou Ristano, who lives in East Boston, said he could not get back to his home on Waldemar Avenue because police had blocked off surrounding roads.

“Obviously, something happened,” said Ristano. “I tried to drive home. Everything is blocked.”

Karen DeFelippo, who lives parallel to Gladstone Street, said she’s seen police walking up and down her street. She plans on keeping her family indoors for the rest of the night.

“Everybody is fine,” DeFelippo, 64, said. “We’re just staying inside because that’s what we were told to do.”

Joseph Armando of Revere said he was having dinner with friends at Great Chef Chinese Food in East Boston when he heard that officers were injured in a shooting.

“We came over here to see if everything is OK,” Armando said. “We were just really concerned about our community.”

The violence on Wednesday night in East Boston came two weeks after two undercover state troopers were fired at while they were conducting a gun-trafficking probe in Roslindale.

Neither trooper was hit in that case and two men have been charged in connection with the attack.

This story is developing and will be updated as information becomes available.

Listen to audio from the East Boston shooting

Cristela Guerra of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Martha Schick can be reached at Martha.Schick@globe.com