Man fatally shot by police after standoff at Sylmar home

A man possibly suffering from mental health problems was fatally shot by Los Angeles police early Wednesday after he cut a SWAT officer with a knife during a standoff in Sylmar, authorities said.

The man, who has not been identified, died hours after being shot in the torso, according to police. The officer was treated at a hospital for a cut to his arm and later released.

The incident began when officers responded to a call of a man with mental illness around 7 p.m. Tuesday in the 14700 block of Lakeside Street, police said. There, officers encountered a man in his early 20s armed with a kitchen knife.

Police investigate a fatal shooting in Sylmar earlier this week.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Officers attempted to subdue the man using a Taser and bean bag gun, but neither weapon had an affect on the man, police said.

“They fired the Taser and bean bags and hit,” said LAPD Det. Meghan Aguilar. “He did not go down.”

Instead, the man retreated into a ranch-style home decorated with Christmas lights. Officers called in SWAT officers and a psychologist. A crisis negotiation team made repeated attempts to contact the man, who was alone inside the home, Aguilar said.

Sometime after midnight, SWAT officers positioned behind an armored vehicle fired gas into the house, Aguilar said. At about 1:30 a.m. the man exited the home without warning and SWAT officers again fired Taser darts and bean bag rounds at him, Aguilar said.

He ran around the side of the house into the backyard, where SWAT officers attempted to apprehend him. In the struggle, Aguilar said, the man cut one of the officers.

“The partner officer then fired his weapon,” Aguilar said, adding that the investigation into the shooting is in its initial stages.

Tuesday in Sylmar, a neighbor, who did not want to provide her name, said she had known the man since he was a boy and is friends with his son.

“Oh, no,” the neighbor said after being told the man was dead. “I can’t believe it.”

The woman said she had watched some of the drama unfold from inside her house. “It went on a long time,” she said of the SWAT team activity.

The man worked at a nearby Food King, she said, adding that she was not aware of any trouble brewing.

Law enforcement sources said the man’s address was not on the police department’s list of homes that they visit frequently on mental health calls.

Follow me on Twitter @brittny_mejia