Dramatic video posted to social media site Instagram purportedly shows California police open fire on a stabbing suspect who was inching closer to an officer.
The incident occurred Wednesday in the Bayview neighbourhood of San Francisco, CBS reports, after a man who had been stabbed claimed his attacker remained near.
Police Chief Greg Suhr told the San Francisco Chronicle that multiple officers confronted the unidentified suspect at 2900 Keith St. He was carrying a large kitchen knife approximately six to eight inches long.
However, officers failed to subdue him by shooting lead-filled bean bags.
“Just drop it!” a female bystander, who also appeared to be recording the incident, shouted.
The suspect fell after one bean bag shot, but recovered and started walking in the direction of an officer attempting to cut him off, the knife apparently still in the suspect’s hand.
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At that moment, the Instagram user’s phone turned away while the sound of several gunshots began to fill the air.
The use of force is now under scrutiny with one local public defender stating “the person was not posing a direct threat and certainly did not have to be shot.”
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