10 months ago
MODESTO, CA - Investigators were looking into the circumstances that led a Modesto police officer to shoot and kill a man wielding a samurai sword in downtown Modesto early Sunday.
Modesto police spokesman Sgt. Brian Findlen said the man was seen by a Modesto Fire Department battalion chief brandishing the two- to three-foot long sword outside a Doubletree Hotel shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday.
Findlen said a police officer was sent to the scene on K Street between 9th and 10th streets, but it was not immediately clear what led her to shoot the man.
"This is one of those split-second decisions that every officer hopes that they don't have to make during their career and when that does occur, we take it very seriously. There is an investigation," Findlen said.
The man, identified only as 44 years old, was taken to the hospital, where he died about an hour later.
Findlen said the officer involved in the shooting, a three-year veteran of the Modesto force, was placed on paid administrative leave and she was not injured. The officer was the first law enforcement on the scene and arrived at the scene alone.
"We want to know why he was out here armed with a samurai sword and we hope to get those answers through the investigation," Findlen said.
The incident is the fourth officer-involved shooting in the Sacramento region since the start of the year, following ones in Lincoln, Woodland and Rancho Cordova.
News10/KXTV and The Associated Press
