Alexander Acosta, a 31-year-old Latino, was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy Friday, Nov. 26, in the 18500 block of Colima Road in Rowland Heights, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.
Authorities were called to an apartment after 9 p.m. and then flagged down by a woman who told them that her son, Acosta, was attacking her boyfriend, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Pope.
It was unclear how many deputies rushed into the apartment, but once in there, they saw Acosta “straddling” the woman’s boyfriend and “slashing his head with a meat cleaver," Pope said.
“The deputies ordered the suspect to stop and drop the cleaver several times,” Pope said. “The suspect ignored the deputies’ command and continued slashing the victim.”
One of the deputies then fired his weapon, striking Acosta three times in the torso, Pope said. At that point, authorities said Acosta stopped his attack, ran into the kitchen and collapsed. The slashing victim suffered severe wounds to his head, neck and upper body and was taken to a hospital. He is expected to survive, authorities said.
Authorities have not identified the deputy involved in the shooting.
— Hector Becerra
