---
title: "LASD Releases Video of Deputy Shooting a Knife-Wielding Man in Azusa"
description: "The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has released body-camera footage of a May shooting in which a deputy opened fire on a man who, the department says, charged at deputies with a knife during a call about a man harming himself in the Azusa area."
category: "Los Angeles"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/los-angeles
author: "Julian Mercado"
published: 2026-06-28T04:38:37.000Z
updated: 2026-06-28T04:38:37.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/lasd-releases-video-of-deputy-shooting-a-knife-wielding-man-in-azusa
tags: ["LASD", "deputy-involved shooting", "Azusa", "use of force", "critical incident video"]
---
# LASD Releases Video of Deputy Shooting a Knife-Wielding Man in Azusa

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has released body-camera footage of a May shooting in which a deputy opened fire on a man who, the department says, charged at deputies with a knife during a call about a man harming himself in the Azusa area.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has released video of a deputy shooting a man during a confrontation last month near Azusa, offering the public its account of an encounter that left the man critically wounded.

## What the department says happened

Deputies from the San Dimas station were sent around 3:20 p.m. on May 20 to the 5500 block of North Orangecrest Avenue, in an unincorporated area near Azusa, after a report of a man harming himself with a knife, [according to CBS News Los Angeles](https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/los-angeles-county-deputies-shoot-man-in-azusa-neighborhood/). The department says the man came out of the property still holding the knife, ignored repeated commands to drop it, and then charged at a deputy — who opened fire, [MyNewsLA reported](https://mynewsla.com/crime/2026/05/21/suspect-shot-by-lasd-deputies-in-azusa-in-critical-condition/), citing the Sheriff's Department. A knife with a roughly three-inch blade was recovered at the scene, and no deputies were hurt.

The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition, the department said at the time. Authorities have not publicly released his name, and his current condition has not been updated.

## About the footage

Sheriff's officials released the footage under California's "critical incident" disclosure law, which generally requires law enforcement agencies to make video of a shooting public within 45 days, [KTLA reported](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/man-shot-by-deputies-after-allegedly-charging-at-officer-with-knife-in-azusa/). The account of the encounter conveyed in the video and accompanying materials is the department's; no independent witness or family account has been made public.

The department has not said whether deputies used or considered less-lethal options — such as a Taser or bean-bag rounds — before the deputy fired.

## What happens next

The Sheriff's Homicide Bureau and Internal Affairs Bureau are investigating, [CBS Los Angeles reported](https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/los-angeles-county-deputies-shoot-man-in-azusa-neighborhood/), and the findings will ultimately be reviewed by the department's internal force-review panels. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office will separately examine the case to determine whether the shooting was legally justified. Such reviews can take many months.

## Sources

- [Man shot by deputies after allegedly charging at officer with knife in Azusa](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/man-shot-by-deputies-after-allegedly-charging-at-officer-with-knife-in-azusa/)
- [Los Angeles County deputies shoot man in Azusa neighborhood](https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/los-angeles-county-deputies-shoot-man-in-azusa-neighborhood/)
- [Deputies shoot allegedly armed man in Azusa; suspect in critical condition](https://mynewsla.com/crime/2026/05/21/suspect-shot-by-lasd-deputies-in-azusa-in-critical-condition/)