Wild footage shows crazed LA assault suspect throw knives at cops before police shooting

Shocking new bodycam video shows the dramatic moment police opened fire on a crazed man who threw knives at the officers in a chaotic Boyle Heights showdown.The wild scene unfolded around 1:35 a.m.on May 16, when officers with the LAPD’s Hollenbeck Patrol Division raced to a home on Orme Avenue near Whittier Boulevard after a 911 call reported an assault with a deadly weapon in progress.The caller, a Spanish-speaking woman, identified herself as the mother of 40-year-old Robert Velasquez — a convicted felon out on parole — and told dispatchers her son was suffering a violent paranoid schizophrenic episode.The woman said Velasquez had jumped a fence and broken into his aunt’s house where he was arguing with family members and threatening to kill himself with a knife.“I had already called for him to be taken to a mental hospital and they haven’t taken him,” the woman told a 911 dispatcher.“He has a knife, but because he says he wants to kill himself,” she said.

  “Please go right now,” she added.“He’s screaming everything.

My sister is very scared; my niece too.”Several minutes later, a second 911 caller said Velasquez had fled to nearby Glenn Avenue.He was screaming, possibly under the influence of narcotics, wearing a black shirt and red shorts, the caller said.“Oh my god, we need them to arrive fast,” the caller said.A flood of additional calls then hit 911 dispatchers, reporting that Velasquez was assaulting a woman at the location on Glenn Avenue, prompting the LAPD to dispatch additional officers.Officers arrived minutes later, finding a family member of Velasquez’s outside of his home.Chaotic bodycam footage shows the officers speaking with the family member when Velasquez suddenly burst from the front door, brandishing two knives and a grilling fork.

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