Global Courant
A “possibly homeless” man accused of threatening staff at a Little Tokyo hotel with a knife was shot by Los Angeles police early Sunday morning but is expected to survive, authorities said.
According to Officer Norma Eisenman, a spokeswoman for the department, the man—described only as being in his 30s—was shot in the lobby of the Miyako Hotel on 1st Street at around 3:30 a.m.
Central Division agents opened fire after the man allegedly approached them with the knife and ignored orders to drop the weapon, Eisenman said. Eisenman described the man as “possibly homeless,” though an LAPD captain told several TV stations that the person was transient.
The man was taken to hospital and has been stable since 9 a.m. Sunday morning.
No officers or hotel guests were injured, Eisenman said. An employee who answered the phone at the Miyako Hotel on Sunday morning said she did not witness the shooting and referred any questions to a manager, who was not immediately available for comment.
Eisenman said officers didn’t try to use less lethal ammunition, such as a Taser or a beanbag shotgun, because the confrontation “happened too quickly.” It was not clear whether any surveillance footage of the incident was available and The Times could not independently verify the police account of the shooting.
Miyako Hotel is located just below San Pedro Street, near the bustling Japanese Village shopping area in the center of Little Tokyo. Tensions over the presence of homeless camps in the area have increased in recent years. Last March, protesters clashed with city workers over the removal of a homeless camp at nearby Toriumi Plaza.
