An armed robbery suspect was shot dead by police Friday after he was suspected of robbing an Upper East Side pharmacy at gunpoint. He was tracked by officers through a decoy pill bottle equipped with a GPS device.

Scott Kato, 45, allegedly held up an Upper East Side pharmacy on Second Avenue located between 68th and 69th streets at gunpoint and attempted to flee, officials said. He walked into the Health Source Pharmacy about 1:30 p.m. and demanded prescription pills and money from the store clerk before fleeing in a Jeep Compass with cash and pain pills.

Kato was pursued by police officers from the 19th Precinct who found him when his gray SUV was stopped in traffic on the northbound service road of Franklin D. Roosevelt at East 96th Street, police said. On being approached, Kato pointed a gun at the police officers, prompting at least four police officers to open fire. He was fatally shot in the torso.

Kato was pronounced dead at the scene and his gun was recovered. Police said he was found with a 9 mm handgun.

The four officers were taken to New York Hospital to be evaluated for tinnitus, or ringing in their ears.

Last year, the New York Police Department announced an initiative to stock the city pharmacies with decoy pill bottles to crack down on a spate of high-profile crimes associated with the black market for oxycodone and other prescription drugs. The decoy bottles look like containers of oxycodone, but contain a GPS device instead of painkillers. A tracking signal is emitted when the bottle is separated from its base.

Kato had served 17 years in prison for robbery and sexual abuse. He may also be a suspect in at least five pharmacy robberies, four of them at Health Source Pharmacy and a fifth on First Avenue. One of the robberies at the same pharmacy dated to December 2013 when a man filled a brown paper bag with oxycodone, Viagra and Cialis.Police believe the same suspect is seen in surveillance video during a robbery of the same pharmacy on Dec. 21, 2013.