The incident in the Qatif area of the kingdom's predominantly Shiite, oil-rich region late Thursday saw the suspect open fire after refusing to surrender to security forces, a ministry spokesman said.
Police fired back, resulting in the man's death. The official SPA news agency reported that one officer was hospitalised after the altercation.
Thursday's shooting comes days after the killing by an unknown assailant of a policeman in Qatif, according to the ministry.