Deputy Kills Man Wielding Hunting Knife

An undercover Orange County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot a man who lunged at him with a large hunting knife Monday during a brief chase through a Stanton housing development, authorities said.

The gunfire erupted about 12:10 p.m., moments after the deputy, dressed in street clothes, tried to cite the unidentified man for trespassing on a stretch of railroad tracks behind Sandalwood Way, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said.

When the deputy identified himself, the man spun around, brandished a knife, then took off, Amormino said. The deputy followed, scrambling over a block wall and into the nearby housing area, where the final confrontation took place.

Ray Gonzales, a Long Beach longshoreman, was watching television in his townhouse when he heard shots just yards away.

“I heard a pow, pow, pow,” Gonzales said. “I ran to the door, and there was an undercover cop with a goatee yelling, ‘Put it down! Put it down!’ ”

Gonzales peeked out and saw a bleeding man lying on the sidewalk. Next to him lay a red baseball cap and a brown hunting knife with a 6- to 8-inch blade.

Next door to Gonzales, Cathy White was preparing to take her 8-year-old son and his friends swimming when the gunfire sounded. She called to her son to lock the door.

The dead man, who was in his mid-20s, was shot in the chest. He was pronounced dead at West Anaheim Medical Center. The deputy, who is assigned to the Orange County Transportation Authority, suffered minor scrapes to his arm, possibly from jumping over the wall, Amormino said.

Officials declined Monday to release the name of either the dead man or the deputy.

Hours after the encounter, children splashed in the development’s swimming pool. Residents walked their dogs. Neighbors chatted under eucalyptus trees, swapping details about the shooting.

The summer scene offered a powerful contrast to the violence that residents said often strikes beyond the development’s concrete walls.

“It’s kind of like a little oasis in a city with a bad reputation,” said White, who has lived in the complex for 18 years. “Losing people’s heads over this doesn’t pay. We’re not packing our bags.”

Behind the complex, however, the railroad has become a magnet for vagrants and drug users, said Amormino. The sheriff’s deputy was patrolling the tracks Monday afternoon in an effort to keep the area free of trespassers, he said.