Police Kill Man in Struggle

Police fatally shot a man who tried to reach for an officer’s weapon and to stab him with a knife during a struggle in the man’s Whittier home, authorities said.

Police responded to a call at 3:06 a.m. Wednesday from a neighbor who said that a suspicious man was banging on his door on Mesagrove Avenue. When officers arrived, the caller indicated the subject had walked across the street and had last been seen behind a van, officials said.

Police found the man in the backyard of his own home nearby, said Whittier Officer Alan dela Pena.

The man began fighting with the officers, dela Pena said. The struggle continued in his home, he said.

“During the struggle, he was trying to pull one of the officer’s handguns,” dela Pena said.

The man then pulled out a folding knife and tried to stab the officer; the officer’s partner shot the man twice in the upper torso, dela Pena said.

The man was taken to County-USC Hospital in Los Angeles where he died at 4:45 a.m., police said. The two officers were treated for minor injuries at the scene. Police withheld the man’s identity until relatives could be identified, dela Pena said.

Neighbors said the man was a father of three and had never given them any trouble.