Police Shoot and Kill Man Suspected of Stealing Car

Police warned a car theft suspect to put down a knife before fatally shooting him in a vacant lot on Harbor Boulevard, a witness said Sunday.

“They were telling him to put his hands up and they were telling him to drop it,” said Alex Iosua, 23, who lives in a apartment building near the scene of the Saturday night shooting.

The man shouted profanity at the police and urged them to fire, Iosua said. It was dark, however, and Iosua said he could not see before ducking back into his apartment whether the man was armed.

“I looked and went back inside the house and heard seven or eight shots, like, pow! Pow! Pow! And I said ‘Dang,’ ” Iosua said. “You could smell the smoke, the gunpowder and everything.”

Police said the suspect, whom they declined to identify Sunday, was wielding a knife when he turned on three officers who had been chasing him on foot. Police then shot him several times in a vacant lot in the 12100 block of Harbor Boulevard shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday.

Paramedics were called and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

The incident started about 8:50 p.m. Saturday when an officer in a patrol car saw the suspect driving south on Harbor Boulevard near Chapman Avenue in a vehicle that had been reported stolen.

Lt. John Woods said the suspect drove into a restaurant parking lot, got out of the car and ran, with officers in pursuit.

After jumping a fence and entering an area behind a closed art supply store, the man threatened the officers, who fired, Woods said.

The officers were not injured.

Crime scene investigators worked into the early morning hours Sunday in search of clues, neighbors said.

After investigators left, the vacant lot, which was strewn with litter and overgrown brush, was blocked off with yellow and black police tape.

Neighbors peered over a cinder-block wall and tried to pinpoint the shooting scene near a bush and a pole.

Police would not comment further Sunday but said more information might be released today. In accordance with standard procedure, an officer-involved-shooting team from the Orange County district attorney’s office will investigate the incident.