Associated Press
ORANGE, Calif. — Authorities say a man shot and killed by California police after a traffic stop had barricaded himself inside a minivan with a gas can and lighter before he exited the vehicle armed with a knife.
Orange police Lt. Fred Lopez said Monday that officers pulled over the driver before dawn for a vehicle code violation.
Lopez says the man then locked himself inside the van and poured gasoline onto a rag in what authorities feared was a plan to set himself on fire or blow up the vehicle.
Lopez says officers broke the van’s windows and used a fire hose to flush him out of the minivan.
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He says officers tried to arrest the man after he climbed out the driver’s side window but the man pulled a knife.
Lopez says an officer then fired at the unidentified man who was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Lopez says the incident happened at a strip mall parking lot.