Police fatally shoot knife-wielding man in his home

A man wielding a large knife and creating a disturbance inside his Santa Rosa home was shot and killed by police early Saturday, officials said.

Two other residents called 911 around 6 a.m. to report that the man was “acting crazy” and had a knife, Sgt. Josh Ludtke, a Santa Rosa police spokesman, said in a statement.

When officers arrived at the residence on West Steele Lane near Coffey Lane, they found the man hiding under a bed with a knife in hand and ordered him to drop it. Officers deployed “electronic control devices” as well as chemical agents several times, but the man kept the knife in hand, Ludtke said.

Other officers, meanwhile, evacuated the rest of the house.

As the man got out from beneath the bed, he allegedly brandished the knife while advancing at officers. At least one officer fired multiple shots, striking the man, Ludtke said.

Paramedics and officers gave him medical attention at the home, but he was pronounced dead there.

Police blocked off the 2400 block of West Steele Lane through the morning as they processed the scene.

Police did not release the identity of the man nor his relationship with the other residents.

Investigators with the Sonoma County Sheriff ’s Office will conduct an independent review of the fatal shooting and will be assisted by the Petaluma and Rohnert Park police departments, as well as the Sonoma County district attorney’s office, Ludtke said.

The incident was captured by the officers’ body cameras, but Santa Rosa police said they would not release the footage because of the active investigation.

The involved officers will be put on routine administrative leave, Ludtke said.

Last year, about a mile away at Coffey Park, Santa Rosa police shot and wounded a 15-yearold high school student who had apparently attempted suicide-bycop. The department said the teenage boy made an anonymous 911 call, telling police there was a man with a gun at the park. He then pointed a fake handgun at an officer who arrived at the park.

The teen survived with a gunshot wound to his foot.