Police Kill Suspect in Hammer Attack

Los Angeles police on Saturday shot and killed a man suspected of beating a woman with a hammer, firing at him when he allegedly threatened officers with a pair of scissors.

The incident began when officers Manuel Lujan and Lauraine Arellano investigated an assault report at an apartment building in the 1900 block of North Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, the Police Department said in a press release.

The officers were met outside by a woman, covered with blood, who said she had been beaten with a hammer. Police could hear screams coming from the apartment, so they forced their way inside. They said they found the suspect “harming himself” with a knife. The officers ordered the man to drop the knife but he refused.

Police said they used a pepper-like spray, to no effect, and had called for a Taser stun gun and a beanbag shotgun when the suspect picked up a pair of scissors and moved toward Lujan, 44.

Arellano, 27, then shot the suspect. Police did not disclose how many times the officer fired his weapon. The man died at the scene.

The officers, both four-year LAPD veterans, were unhurt.

Neither the suspect nor the injured woman were identified, pending notification of relatives. The woman was reported in stable condition at an undisclosed hospital.

The LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating.