- Loc Duong, 67, had stabbed two people – one fatally – when officers found him
- Graphic bodycam footage shows him charging at police through Taser fire
- He demands that they shoot him before he turns the knife on himself and dies
Police in Los Angeles are trying to figure out what drove a vulnerable elderly man to commit suicide before he begged police to kill him.
Graphic police video shows 67-year-old Loc Duong being repeatedly tasered as he charges at officers down an apartment hallway with a knife, saying, “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 plunges the four-inch blade into his stomach repeatedly before falling to the ground.
“Over the coming months, the LAPD will continue to investigate and analyze this incident,” Capt. Kelly Muniz said.
“We will continue to interview any new witnesses and complete forensic testing.”
Loc Duong, 67, begged police to kill him after they cornered him outside his LA apartment
Loc Duong, 67, used a four-inch kitchen knife to seriously injure a passerby and kill another before turning the gun on himself when police refused his request to shoot him dead
A security camera captured the moment Duong claimed his first victim outside a store on the corner of 6th and Spring streets on October 26 at 3:45 p.m.
Duong, wearing a baseball cap and carrying a backpack, casually walks past the man before apparently turning on impulse and repeatedly swinging his large kitchen knife at the man’s head.
The force of the blows causes Duong himself to fall backwards onto the road before picking himself up, waving his knife menacingly at the shocked onlookers and walking away as they attempt to subdue a police patrol.
Arriving officers were told the knifeman had gone to an apartment building in the 200 block of West 6th Street, where more security footage showed the moment Duong casually stabbed another passerby in the hallway before heading to his home on the fourth floor.
Police come across the second victim lying dying on the ground as they walk to the door of his apartment and someone shouts, “This is the LAPD; Everyone in room 417, come out with your hands up!”
Seconds later, Duong peeks out, still holding the bloody kitchen knife in his right hand.
Security cameras caught Duong waving wildly at a passerby on LA’s 6th Street before casually killing another in his nearby apartment building
Officers who chased Duong into the apartment building on West 6th Street found one of his victims dying in the hallway
Several taser strikes and rubber bullets hit Duong as he begins walking towards the officers, still holding his knife
Officers ask the man to drop his knife while holding it in front of his stomach
The response of a non-lethal bullet is heard as Duong tumbles back into his room, before emerging and another shot rings out.
“Hey, put that knife down!” an officer shouts as the group backs down the hallway.
Several more bullets hit Duong as he begins walking toward the officers, still holding his knife.
Tasers are fired before Duong shouts, “I want you to kill me.” ‘No! Drop the knife!’ an officer shouts back, “Back up, back up!” he tells his colleagues.
“I want you to kill me,” Duong repeats. “Drop the knife, sir,” is the response. “Drop the knife or we’ll shoot you!” adds another.
More taser shots are heard as Duong begins to stab himself. “Drop the knife, don’t do it sir!” an officer says before Duong slides to the ground.
Another taser is fired in a futile last attempt to get Duong to stab himself
The dying old man collapses to the ground and officers move in to arrest him and grab his knife
“Okay sir, hold on, the suspect is going down,” one shouts before the officers walk over to the now prostrate figure, kick the knife out of his outstretched hand and cuff 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 unit is preparing a report on the stabbings and police response for the city’s police chief.