Officers Kill Man Who Was Allegedly Wielding Knife Inside SoCal Mall

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Cell phone videos of a gruesome police shooting inside the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza made the rounds on social media Tuesday.

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department responded to a call of a loud man with a knife on the second floor of the mall at about 5:40 p.m.

Some videos captured the moment the man tried to flee before being shot by police. "Oh my God, he's running away," one witness was heard saying before shots are fired.

"After a while, he popped out his knife. [...] After the knife, police drew their weapons and then he was trying to run away," mall employee and witness to the shooting Juan Zepeda told CBS2 News.

Six officers with guns drawn were seen hovering over the body of the yet unidentified man after he was hit with deadly fire.

"I could see [the knife] plain as day," said former police officer Tim Williams. "Patiently telling the guy, 'Put it down. Put it down.'[...] It wasn't like it was just open like on some of these things where it's open fields, where just takes off and runs.[...] No, there's too many people around, and this guy was causing the threat."

Police said no one else was hurt during the melee.

The mall remained an active crime scene late Tuesday.