Crenshaw Mall: Knife-Wielding Suspect Shot To Death By Police [Videos]

A knife-wielding suspect was shot and killed by police officers Tuesday during a confrontation at Crenshaw mall, Baldwin Hills, in Los Angeles.

According to Los Angeles Police Department, the incident took place at 5:41 p.m. local time (8:41 p.m. EDT) at Crenshaw mall, located in 3650 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene, and there were reportedly no other perpetrators.

Witnesses present at mall said the man, who was wielding a long knife, did not comply with police orders when told to drop the weapon, after which he was shot.

A video of the immediate aftermath of the incident was recorded by one of the witnesses from inside a store in the mall. The video showed a bloodied suspect on the floor, and a group of armed police officers approaching him, repeatedly telling the former, “Don’t move.”

The following video may seem graphic to some readers:

A scared voice can be heard saying off-camera: “You guys can come over here… they got him.”

The glass door of the store, from where the video was being filmed, was shattered and the suspect was surrounded by the broken pieces.

In another video, shot by Paula Reed who works at the mall, people can be heard screaming at the time of the incident. Four gunshots can be also be heard in the video.

"I heard the officers patiently telling the guy, put it down, put it down, put it down," said Tim Williams, a former police officer and witness to the incident, ABC 7 reported. "He kept gesturing and gesturing. He'd move toward them and move back. They still didn't shoot. They could have shot him then and they didn't."

Williams added the man attempted to attack mall-goers, which was when the police open fired at the suspect.

“But when he took off towards where the people were, that's when they had to shoot him,” he said.

Other witnesses said the suspect was acting erratically inside the mall, due to which the police were alerted. The mall’s security guards were trying to get the suspect to leave the facility in vain before the police arrived. Some were also of the opinion the man might have been under the influence of drugs.

“After a while, I guess they were calling it into police that something sketchy happening," said witness Juan Zepeda, CW affiliated KTLA reported. "He was standing kind of sketchy, like he was about to do something.”

Not many details regarding the incident were released by the LAPD. It was also not known what prompted the police to use deadly force against the suspect, how many shots were fired, or how many officers were involved in the shooting.

The weapon was recovered from the scene. There were no reports of civilians or police officers getting injured although the LAPD has asked victims, if any, to contact them.

The identity of the suspect has not been revealed and his motive is also under investigation.