WHITTIER (CNS) - A knife-wielding man who reportedly claimed he wanted to be shot by police died in a deputy-involved shooting in unincorporated Whittier, authorities said today.
The shooting occurred shortly after 10:35 p.m. Sunday, when deputies were sent to the 8000 block of Rexall Avenue, according to the sheriff's department.
The man, identified by family members as 37-year-old Marco Antonio Vasquez, died at the scene of “several” gunshot wounds, according to Deputy Tracy Koerner of the Sheriff's Information Bureau.
Deputies from the Pico Rivera Station had gone to the Rexall Avenue address about 8:10 p.m. Sunday on a call that a man holding a machete was yelling and banging on windows, he said.
“Deputies, along with members of the Sheriff's Department Mental Evaluation Team, contacted a male adult resident along with members of his family. It was determined no crime had been committed and he was left in their care,” Koerner said.
At 10:33 p.m., deputies received a second call from that location. The caller claimed the man wanted to be shot by police, the deputy said.
“As deputies arrived, they found the same male that was contacted earlier standing in the driveway,” according to Koerner, who said the man “was armed with a large knife and was holding it to a woman believed to be a family member.”
Deputies ordered him to drop the knife, but he refused and instead “advanced toward the deputies, at which time a deputy-involved shooting occurred,” Koerner said.
No deputies were injured and a large knife was recovered, he said.
“I heard he had a knife ... (but) I've never seen him act out or anything,” the man's uncle, Frank Mosqueda, told reporters. “He's always been calm, and he's always been family oriented.”
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