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LAPD officers shot and killed a man armed with a knife on Sunday afternoon after they responded to a vandalism call at the 99 Cents Only store in Hollywood.
Officers arrived at the 5200 block of Sunset Boulevard around 3:40 p.m. after receiving 911 calls about the suspect, who has not been identified, according to a press release from the LAPD. Store employees reported that a man armed with a knife was breaking items in the store and ran out after stealing a bag of ice, KABC reported.
When officers confronted the suspect, they asked him to drop the bag of ice and the knife, LAPD Commander Dennis Kato told KABC. They used a Taser on him but he still charged at the officers, according to the L.A. Times. Then the officers shot at the suspect. No officers were injured.
However, the details of what led up to the shooting are murky. "[W]e're not sure yet what the specifics are after the Taser, but he continued to come at the officers, and an officer-involved shooting occurred," Kato told KABC. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses described hearing four gunshots and say that the man was an elderly homeless man who frequented the area. One witness told CBS 2 that the man got into a fight with a store employee over a shopping cart.
An investigation is underway.
