Long Beach police shoot and wound man they say was holding a BB gun

Long Beach police shot and wounded a 40-year-old Palmdale man who they said pointed a BB gun at officers when they approached him as he sat in a car early Friday.

The incident began about 8:20 a.m., when police received reports of a man waving a knife near Los Coyotes Diagonal and Woodruff Avenue, said Allison Gallagher, public information officer for the Long Beach Police Department.

Officers arrived and found a man sitting in a parked car holding a gun, she said.

Police attempted to “deescalate the situation,” Gallagher said.

The man did not drop the gun and threatened to “harm himself” before allegedly pointing the gun at officers, Long Beach police said in a statement.

One officer fired at the man, hitting him in the upper body. The man was taken to a local hospital.

Police recovered the gun and found that it was a “CO2-powered BB gun,” officials said.

The officers involved were wearing body cameras, according to the news release.

The shooting will be investigated by the Long Beach Police Department and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

No officer was injured in the incident.