Los Angeles police shot a 35-year-old man Friday in Koreatown while he stabbed himself with a large piece of glass he broke from a hair salon storefront window.
The man, later identified as Freisman Sanchez, ran toward a police officer while holding a piece of glass in his hand before he was shot multiple times, the LAPD said in a news release.
Officers responded to the 850 block of South Vermont Avenue around 7:15 a.m. for reports of an assault with a deadly weapon, according to the LAPD.
Witnesses told The LA Local that Sanchez broke a glass door and repeatedly stabbed himself in the chest, stomach and arms before police arrived.
Security guard Frankie Bello at El Super grocery store watched from across the street as Sanchez stabbed himself and then lay down in the middle of the street near James M. Wood Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. Bello said Sanchez stood up when he heard police sirens approach the scene.
At one point, two bystanders tried to help Sanchez, Bello said, but he appeared to ignore them.
“He had gotten the glass from the broken hair salon door,” Bello said. Photos provided to The LA Local showed what appeared to be broken glass and blood on the sidewalk outside a hair salon.
Resident Tye Martinez heard police sirens and then heard a police officer issue orders over a loudspeaker. He then saw Sanchez “running erratically down the street toward Olympic” shortly before the shooting.
When officers arrived on the scene, they found Sanchez standing in the middle of the street with his shirt covered in blood, according to a news release from the LAPD.
Officers told Sanchez to drop the glass in his hand, but he ignored them and walked away, police said.
The LAPD did not say what prompted officers to shoot. The shooting remains under investigation, and Sanchez was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer.
He was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated for multiple gunshot and self-inflicted stab wounds.
There were no additional injuries reported, and the shooting is under investigation by the LAPD’s Force Investigation Division. Police did not release the name of the officers involved in the shooting or provide any details about whether the officers followed any mental health protocols to de-escalate the incident.
