A man was shot and wounded by deputies Tuesday afternoon after he lunged at them with a kitchen knife at an Expo Line station in Santa Monica, authorities said.
The shooting occurred at the Downtown Santa Monica Metro Station located at Fourth Street and Colorado Avenue just before 1 p.m., according to Ramon Montenegro with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Transit Policing Division.
The suspect emerged from the same direction as an arriving train and lunged at deputies with a knife, sheriff’s officials said in a released statement.
The suspect and deputies got into a struggle, and an officer-involved shooting occurred when deputies realized the suspect had a second knife in his hand, authorities reported.
The deputies had been assigned to the station to provide security on the platform, according to sheriff’s officials.
Two kitchen knives were recovered at the scene, authorities said.
The man was seen lying on the ground on the station’s platform, apparently bleeding, as paramedics tended to him, Sky5 aerial footage showed. He was taken away by stretcher into a waiting ambulance around 1:15 p.m.
Sheriff’s deputies said the man was shot in the upper torso and listed in critical condition late Tuesday.
No deputies were injured in the incident, Montenegro said.
There was a heightened police response around the station, which was cordoned off, the footage showed.
The station, located in a busy part of the city, is a short distance away from Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica High School and Santa Monica City Hall. The stop was temporarily closed due to the police activity, but was later reopened, Metro tweeted.
The incident is under investigation, and anyone with information has been asked to call the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Those who prefer to provide a tip anonymously can contact Crime Stoppers by dialing 800-222-8477.
KTLA’s Jennifer Thang contributed to this story.
