A 28-year-old man who stabbed a Santa Monica police officer in an unprovoked attack outside police headquarters, prompting the officer to fatally shoot him, stole the knife from a nearby Target store shortly before the deadly encounter, police said Tuesday.
The stabbing and shooting occurred around 5:20 p.m. Saturday outside the police headquarters at 333 Olympic Drive, according to the Santa Monica Police Department.
About five minutes earlier, the suspect — identified as Deyaa Abdelhadi Halaibeh of New York — robbed a Target store at 420 Broadway, where he pushed an employee to the ground and fled the business with a box of kitchen knives, police said.
“The box was later found abandoned with one knife missing. This knife, an 8″ chef’s knife, was used by the subject when he accosted the officer,” according to an SMPD statement.
Police said the officer was outside the police station gathering information from a person on an unrelated matter when the suspect attacked him. The officer ultimately shot the man, and he died at the scene.
The officer was treated for stab wounds at a hospital and was released, police said.
Halaibeh had no criminal history in California or prior contacts with law enforcement in Santa Monica. Anyone with information regarding the robbery or assault was urged to contact Detective Peter Zamfirov at peter.zamfirov@santamonica.gov or Sgt. Alfonso Lozano at alfonso.lozano@santamonica.gov. The SMPD watch commander can be reached at 310-458-8427.