By Denisse Salazar and Sean Emery
Orange County Register
ANAHEIM, Calif. — A 29-year-old man shot and killed by an Anaheim police sergeant during a confrontation Thursday afternoon in the parking lot of a police substation has been identified as Roscoe Cambridge, police said Friday.
The sergeant was seated in his car, working on his computer, when he was approached by a man with a large kitchen knife, Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn said.
“The officer could see the knife,” Dunn said, but details of what happened after the man went up to the sergeant were not immediately available pending the ongoing investigation.
At about 1:15 p.m., the sergeant advised on the radio that he had been involved in a shooting at 8201 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road, Dunn said.
Responding officers found Cambridge of Anaheim lying in the parking lot across from the Festival shopping center, just west of Weir Canyon Road.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, Dunn said.
A large kitchen knife and a Bible were found near Cambridge’s body.
The sergeant, whose name has not been released, was not injured during the confrontation.
Authorities would not comment on whether any other officers were in the parking lot.
Mike Worley was leaving the shopping center and was stopped at a red light waiting to make a left turn on Santa Ana Canyon Road when he heard “three pops.”
“I turned and saw the suspect fall to the ground and roll to his side while the officer was still standing over him with his gun out,” Worley said. “The officer was calling in on his radio while he still had the gun pointed at him.”
Worley said the light turned green and as he drove toward Weir Canyon Road, he passed three police cars with lights and sirens on.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the incident, as is customary with officer-involved shootings. The Anaheim Police Department is also carrying out an investigation.
There have been two officer-involved shootings in the city so far this year. Last year, there were three.
According to court records, a man matching Cambridge’s name and date of birth has had some run-ins with the law.
In January 2011, he was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor making criminal threats, resisting a peace officer and vandalism. He pleaded guilty to resisting a police officer and the other two counts were dismissed.
In April 2010, Cambridge pleaded guilty to misdemeanor resisting an executive officer. Six months later, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor resisting a peace officer and petty theft.
A makeshift memorial of flowers, a Bible and a white cross has sprouted in the parking lot where Cambridge was fatally shot. Friends and family left handwritten messages on the cross.
“You are with the angels now where you belong! At peace no one can get you now! You are in God’s care. Mum.
“I wish I could have saved you.”
Register staff photographer Bruce Chambers contributed to this report.
A Bible lies on the ground near the body of a man shot and killed by an officer in Anaheim on Thursday.
Copyright 2012 Orange County Register