Digest : Local News in Brief : 80-Year-Old Man Wounded by Police After Alleged Threat

Police Tuesday shot and seriously injured an 80-year-old Van Nuys man who allegedly held a butcher knife and threatened an officer following a dispute at the apartment house where the man lived, authorities said.

Hanna Attalla, a resident of an apartment complex in the 8500 block of Cedros Avenue, was listed in serious but stable condition at Holy Cross Hospital after being shot in the left side of the abdomen by Officer Terri I. Reitz, 31, Los Angeles police said.

Lt. Charles Higbie, who investigates all officer-involved shootings, said police were summoned to the apartment at 3:30 p.m after Attalla began arguing with the manager of the building and chased the man with a butcher knife and a hammer. Attala soon after smashed the headlights of the manager’s car with the hammer, Higbie said.

Reitz, Rolland M. Cannon and two other officers arrived at the scene, Higbie said. When Attalla started approaching Cannon with the knife raised over his head, Cannon fired a shot from a taser gun at Attalla but missed, Higbie said.

When Attalla, still holding the knife over his head, came within several feet of Cannon, Reitz fired one shot, hitting him in the abdomen, Higbie said. The knife fell to the floor, he said, and paramedics were summoned to transport Attalla to the hospital.

Higbie said Attalla had a long-standing dispute with the manager of the building. Higbie said that when Attalla recovers, he will be arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.