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Witnesses at the scene, Kyle Reinoso and Stephanie Szyszkowski, said they saw the man in the center divider at the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Shangri-La Drive walking and running up and down the median with a hockey stick.They said deputies on the scene had weapons drawn.“He was running toward the cop and they shot him,” Reinoso said.Reinoso and Szyszkowski said the incident occurred shortly after 8 p.m. and that they heard “four to six shots.”
But CBS 2 says the man had a spear, and was suspected in an earlier stabbing yesterday evening:
Deputies located the suspect standing on a center median, holding a metal spear and behaving strangely.Witness Priscilla Garcia said the suspect appeared to be taunting deputies and tried to break her windshield.“[I thought], ‘Oh my God, get me out of here.’ It was a scary feeling,” Garcia said. “When he did that, I looked at the cops to do something because he was not going to stop.”The man then charged at deputies with a knife and they opened fire.
You can see the ABC report here, which includes parts of the cell phone video.
The man who shot the video, Jonathan Hayes, sheds some more light on sequence of the event, telling ABC 7 that the man wasn't violent, until he started hitting a brown PT Cruiser that, perhaps, was being driven by Priscilla Garcia, the woman interviewed by CBS 2 above.
Hayes says Deputies opened fire after that:
“They didn’t try to handle it any other way,” Hayes said of deputies at the scene. “They opened fire.”Hayes said 10 rounds were fired at the suspect by deputies.Another witness, Priscilla Garcia, told NBC4 the suspect had been using a metal rod to attack vehicles, including her own.“He looked at me with such anger, rage,” Garcia said. She said the suspect had the pointed end of the rod directed at her window to break it. As he did so, “the sheriffs rushed him. He turned back to rush at them, and they shot and killed him.”
Garcia also told NBC 4 TV that she heard 5 or 6 gunshots, and then a final one.
"He didn't go down right away," Garcia told an NBC 4 reporter. Patrons at the nearby Canyon Country library heard as many as 15 shots.
NBC 4 also quotes a Detective Steve Lankford as saying that Deputies tried to use a taser on the suspct, which "had no effect on the individual."
More on this shooting and investigation as it occurs today.
Were you in or around the area when this occurred last night in Canyon Country? Share your experience below in the comments.
Update, 7:05 AM:
Official LASD press release says that essentially there were two officer involved shootings last night. The first shots fired apparently had no effect on the man, to the extent that he was able to survive them, deputies retreated to their vehicles, and then the suspect tried to attack deputies with a knife.
The second shooting, LASD says, finally stopped and killed the man:
With additional calls to Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station, a Sheriff’s patrol unit located the male- suspect standing on the center medium near the intersection of Shangri-La Drive and Soledad Canyon Road, holding a metal spear, and behaving strangely. The deputies approached the suspect to give him the opportunity to comply with their verbal orders. The suspect ignored deputies and struck a passing vehicle with the spear. At some point during the contact a deputy involved shooting occurred. The suspect, appearing unscathed by the shooting, continued his erratic behavior. When both deputies moved back toward their vehicle, the suspect, now holding a knife in his hand, advanced at the deputies, at which point a second deputy involved shooting occurred. The suspect was struck by gunfire multiple times on the upper torso.
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