Updated at 10 a.m. Sept. 22, 2017
A suspect armed with a knife and gun was fatally shot by police officers early Friday morning outside an Oceanside shopping center, police said.
Officers were dispatched about 12:15 a.m. in response to a report of a man armed with a knife in the area of 3410 Marron Road, near the Kohl’s department store, Oceanside Police Lt. Dan Sullivan said.
“When officers arrived on scene, they indeed found a man with a knife,” Sullivan said. “The suspect was non-compliant with police commands, and less-lethal devices were used.”
The suspect was still grasping the knife after the attempts to subdue him with the “less-lethal” munitions, public information officer Tom Bussey said. That’s when officers deployed police dogs, which “resulted in to the suspect dropping the knife.”
But after losing his grasp on the bladed weapon, the suspect “produced what appeared to be a handgun from his waistband,” Bussey said. That’s when police opened fire.
Three officers were on scene, though it wasn’t immediately clear how many of them fired their weapons or how many shots struck the suspect, Sullivan said. Officers and paramedics attempted life-saving measures, but the man died at the scene.
Police did not immediately release the suspect’s name pending family notifications. The investigation — a joint effort by Oceanside police and the San Diego County District Attorney’s office — was still underway after 7 a.m. and was expected to continue over much of the morning.
— City News Service