Homicide detectives are investigating after a man was fatally shot by at least one Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in East L.A. on Sunday, officials said.
The shooting was reported about 2:10 p.m. in the 100 block of North Rowan Avenue, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.
A preliminary investigation later learned that deputies from the East L.A. sheriff’s station responded to the area following a report regarding what they described as a “medical rescue/suicidal person call,” according to the news release.
Investigators said that, upon arriving, deputies found the man inside a car, and he had been armed with a kitchen knife and was refusing to comply with the orders to step out of the car and drop the knife, the department said.
Sheriff’s officials dispatched a mental health evaluation team to the scene, but before they arrived, the man had already exited the car and kept holding onto the knife, officials said.
Investigators said the man continued to ignore deputies’ commands to drop the knife, which prompted the use of a “less lethal stun bag,” authorities said, adding that the tactic didn’t have much influence in getting the man to comply with orders.
Officials said the man then “turned toward the deputies and began to charge at them with the knife in-hand,” and that’s when a “deputy involved shooting occurred.”
The man, who has only been identified as a 34-year-old Hispanic man, was struck by the gunfire and fell to the ground, the department said.
Paramedics and deputies on scene tried to render aid to the man before transporting him to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, officials said.
It was not immediately disclosed how many deputies fired their weapons, nor how many shots were fired. No deputies were injured.
Meanwhile, the knife has been recovered at the scene.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
Those who prefer to provide information anonymously may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.