WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Police in Southern California fatally shot a man who they say pulled a knife after he was forced from his locked vehicle by blasts from a fire hose.
The man locked himself in the minivan late Sunday with a gas can and lighter, and the hose was employed after he lit a cigarette and poured what appeared to be gasoline onto a rag, Orange police Lt. Fred Lopez said.
Police in the city 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles broke the front passenger-side window and blasted the man with water.
"We felt this guy was going to light himself on fire or blow the car up," Lopez said.
Video aired by KABC-TV showed that moments after the water was sprayed and police broke additional windows, the shirtless man climbed out head-first through the driver's-side window.
He stumbled to the ground before jumping to his feet. Officers tried to arrest him when he reached behind his back and pulled out a knife, Lopez said.
In the video, the man was partially blocked from view by another vehicle after he climbed out and struggled with officers. No weapon is seen but a voice is heard yelling "knife" moments before two shots rang out.
A non-lethal round of rubber projectiles was ineffective so officers used lethal force, Lopez said. The man, identified as Michael Anthony Perez, 33, of Orange was hit by a single bullet and pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.
(Amy Taxin / AP)