‘Agitated’ man slain by police

A man who tried to grab a police officer’s gun was shot and killed, authorities said Wednesday.

Officers were investigating the report of an armed suspect in a red pickup in the 800 block of East Bishop Street about 10 p.m. Tuesday when the man started interfering from a nearby sidewalk, said Santa Ana Police Department Cpl. Jose Gonzalez.

The man, whose name was not released, appeared “agitated and excited” and was disrupting the investigation, Gonzalez said. Officers said they believed he was using alcohol or drugs. When several officers tried to control him during a pat-down search for weapons, he struggled with them, grabbing one of the officers’ handguns and trying to remove it from its holster. Fearing for their safety, a second officer fired multiple shots at the man, wounding him in the upper torso, Gonzalez said.

The man was taken to a local hospital, where he died at 11:48 p.m.

The incident is being investigated by the Orange County district attorney’s office and Santa Ana police.