- Loc Duong, 67, had stabbed two people – one fatally – when officers found him
- Graphic bodycam footage shows him staggering toward police amid Taser fire
- He demands that they shoot him before they turn the knife on themselves and die
Los Angeles police try to figure out what drove a frail elderly man to commit a knife attack before begging police to kill him and take his own life.
Graphic police video shows 67-year-old Loc Duong being repeatedly attacked with a Taser as he runs toward officers in an apartment hallway with a knife and tells them, “I want you to kill me.”
His body is illuminated by laser sights, but when no bullet is fired, he leans against a wall and repeatedly plunges the ten-inch blade into his stomach before falling to the ground.
“Over the next few months, the LAPD will continue to investigate and analyze this incident,” said Capt. Kelly Muniz.
“We will continue to interview any new witnesses who come forward and conduct forensic testing.”
Loc Duong, 67, begged police to kill him after cornering him outside his LA apartment
Loc Duong, 67, used a ten-inch kitchen knife to critically injure a passerby and kill another before turning the gun on himself when police rejected his demand to shoot him
A surveillance camera captured the moment Duong claimed his first victim outside a store on the corner of 6th and Spring streets at 3:45 p.m. on Oct. 26.
Duong, wearing a baseball cap and carrying a backpack, casually walks past the man before seemingly spontaneously turning and swinging his large kitchen knife repeatedly at the man’s head.
The force of the blow sends Duong backwards into the street before he stands up again, waves his knife threateningly at the horrified onlookers and strides away as they try to stop a police patrol.
Arriving officers were told that the stabber had gone to a residence in the 200 block of West 6th Street, where additional security footage captured the moment Duong casually stabbed another passerby in the hallway before making his way to his home on the fourth floor.
As the police go to his apartment door, they stumble upon the second victim lying dying on the floor, one screaming, “This is the LAPD; Someone come out of room 417 with their hands up!’
Seconds later, Duong looks out, still holding the now bloody kitchen knife in his right hand.
Security cameras caught Duong savagely punching a passerby on 6th Street in LA before casually killing another in his nearby apartment building
Officers who pursued Duong to the West 6th Street apartment complex found one of his victims dying in the hallway
Multiple Taser attacks and rubber bullets hit Duong as he walked toward the officers, still carrying his blade
Officers plead with the man to drop his knife as he raises it to his stomach
As Duong rushes back to his room, the return of a non-lethal bullet is heard before he reappears and another shot rings out.
“Hey, put the knife down!” an officer shouts as the group backs down the corridor.
Several more shots hit Duong as he walked toward the officers, still carrying his blade.
Tasers are fired before Duong screams, “I want you to kill me.” ‘NO! Drop the knife!’ An officer calls back: “Back, back!” He tells his colleagues.
“I want you to kill me,” Duong repeats. “Drop the knife, sir,” comes the reply. “Drop the knife or we’ll shoot you!” another adds.
More Taser shots are heard as Duong begins stabbing himself. “Drop the knife, don’t do it, sir!” an officer says before Duong slides to the ground.
Another Taser is fired, a futile last attempt to stop Duong from stabbing himself
The dying old man collapses to the ground and officers step in to arrest him and confiscate his knife
“Okay, sir, hold on tight, the suspect is going to be on the ground,” one shouts, before the officers approach the figure now lying on the ground, kick the knife away from his outstretched hand and tie his arms behind his back.
Duong and his second stabbing victim were taken to hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
His first victim remains in critical condition.
The LAPD’s Critical Incident Review Unit is preparing a report on the stabbings and the police response for the city’s police chief.