Knife-Wielding Suspect Results in Officer Involved Shooting

Los Angeles: On October 28, 2008, at about 12:45 p.m., three Los Angeles Police Department officers on bicycle patrol with the Department’s Operation Safer City Task Force encountered a suspect who threatened them with a knife, resulting in an officer involved shooting (OIS).

The shooting occurred in the area of 6th Street and Stanford Avenue where the officers observed a drug transaction. Suspect Benny Allen, already on parole for narcotics and burglary convictions, was involved in the transaction. When he became aware of the officers’ presence, he walked into the middle of the street. When officers ordered Allen to walk out of the street in order to make a pedestrian stop, he ignored them and continued walking away from the officers.

Suddenly, Allen turned and faced the officers with the blade of a folding knife in the locked-open position. While yelling, waving and pointing the knife toward the officers, the suspect rapidly approached them. One of the officers backed away as Allen continued to advance, so Officer Nathaniel Anderson (three years, eight months with the Department) fired at Allen, striking him in the torso.

Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics transported Allen to a local hospital in critical but stable condition. Allen was arrested and charged with assault against a police officer, and LAPD Force Investigation Division is handling the investigation of the shooting incident.