California police fatally shoot man wielding ‘large stick’

RED BLUFF, Calif. – Officials say a Northern California police officer shot and killed a man who was threatening to strike officers with a large stick.

Red Bluff Police Chief Kyle Sanders said in a statement that after officers encountered the man on a street he repeatedly refused to obey orders to drop the stick and walked away from them during the confrontation shortly after midnight Sunday. Police did not describe details about the stick.

Officers first used a stun gun and a bean bag shot at the man to try to get him to comply but those efforts didn’t work, Sanders said.

When the man came toward the officers with the stick raised, Red Bluff Cpl. Stephen Harper fired a shot, striking the man in his upper torso, Sanders said. He said in a statement that officers began life-saving measures and the man was taken to a hospital where he died. But a witness told KRCR-TV in Redding that it took several minutes before officers began administering CPR.

The man’s identity was not immediately released.

Harper, a 15-year veteran of the department, has been put on administrative leave while officials investigate.

Red Bluff is about 200 miles (320 kilometres) north of San Francisco.