A knife-wielding man who may have been trying to commit “suicide by cop” was wounded Wednesday in an officer-involved shooting in Gardena near the Hustler Casino, authorities said.
The shooting occurred shortly before noon at the intersection Redondo Beach Boulevard and Vermont Avenue, according to the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
The wounded man, whose name was withheld, was taken to a hospital in fair condition and was expected to be released later in the day, the sheriff’s department reported.
Gardena and Los Angeles police officers went to the location on a report that a man with a knife was in the intersection possibly stabbing himself, according to reports from the scene.
The suspect refused to obey officers’ commands to drop the knife and after being blasted with less lethal rounds, he approached a motor officer, who shot the man, an investigator told reporters at the scene.
Still refusing to comply, the man was then zapped with a stun gun and taken into custody. The suspect had urged officers to shoot him during the confrontation, a sheriff’s lieutenant said.
Sheriff’s homicide detectives were assisting Gardena police in the investigation, which led the highway patrol to close the Redondo Beach Boulevard offramp from the southbound Harbor (110) Freeway and route traffic away from the area.