Bodycam footage shows knife-wielding man stab cop outside Santa Monica police station

A knife-wielding man stabbed a cop outside a Los Angeles police station, prompting the officer to fatally shoot his attacker in a terrifying scene captured on the officer’s bodycam.

The suspect, who identified himself as 28-year-old Deyaa Abdelhadi Halaibeh, showed up at the front door of the Santa Monica Police Department and pressed the call button while an officer went outside to speak to a separate person. Fox News reported.

There were two more people standing outside the station, prompting the officer to tell Halaibeh to wait his turn before they could talk.

The officer’s bodycam footage showed that the suspect had his right hand suspiciously in his jacket, which alerted the officer.

“What’s in your coat?” the officer said. “I’m a little nervous when your hand is in your jacket like that.”

“Are you nervous?” Halaibeh responded before abruptly lunging at the officer with an eight-inch chef’s knife.

Halaibeh stabbed and slashed the officer several times before the officer could run away and draw his gun as the suspect gave chase.

The struggle continued before several shots were fired, during which the officer was able to separate from Halaibeh and shoot him while the suspect held the knife in his hand.

Halaibeh, a New York resident who had no criminal history in California or any previous contact with Santa Monica police, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The officer was taken to hospital for treatment and has since been released.

The suspect had stolen the knife he used from a Target store just minutes before the attack, during which he attacked an employee, Fox reported.

The officer shot and killed the suspect, whose knife can be seen next to his body