Key Takeaways
- A knife-wielding man charged into a barbecue restaurant and was shot by a lawfully armed customer after he advanced with the knife.
- The incident occurred around 2:10 p.m. at Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que, causing fear among patrons and staff.
- The customer first attempted to diffuse the situation verbally before resorting to gunfire when the threat escalated.
- The man was pronounced dead at the scene, but details about his injuries remain unclear as the investigation continues.
- The customer is cooperating with authorities, and the final determination about the shooting’s legality will rest with prosecutors.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
CERRITOS, CA — A man armed with a knife ran into a crowded barbecue restaurant on a Sunday afternoon and was shot and killed by a customer with a concealed carry permit after he charged at him, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
As reported by MyNewsLA.com, the incident began around 2:10 p.m. Sunday when the man entered Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que in the 11300 block of South Street and ran through the kitchen and service areas, frightening customers and staff, sheriff’s officials said.
A lawfully armed customer confronted him and ordered him to drop the knife, according to LASD. The man charged at the customer with the knife. The customer fired.
What stands out to me is that the customer’s first move was his voice, not his trigger. He gave a command. He gave the man a way out. Police say the man answered by charging him with the knife, and a knife coming at you at close range inside a restaurant is an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. But I want to be careful not to suggest the threat only started at the charge. By the sheriff’s account, this was already a man running through a kitchen and service area with a knife, among customers and staff with nowhere to go. That can itself present an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm to the people around him, and defending others from that threat is every bit as legitimate as defending yourself. What the charge did was aim the threat directly at the customer and erase any ambiguity about the moment. Either way, the justification rests on the imminent threat from that knife, nothing else.
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Arriving deputies found the man suffering from what appeared to be lacerations and a gunshot wound, officials said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity was not immediately known. The sheriff’s account does not explain the lacerations, so I won’t guess at them.
The customer, who has not been identified, remained at the scene and was cooperating with LASD Homicide detectives, officials said. The investigation is ongoing, and no charging decision has been announced in the sheriff’s account. As always, the final determination on whether a shooting was lawful self-defense belongs to prosecutors, not to the first day’s reporting. But staying put and cooperating is exactly what a lawfully armed citizen should do, and by the sheriff’s telling, that is what he did.
One more thing worth sitting with. This happened in Los Angeles County, in the middle of a Sunday lunch crowd, in a place most people would call perfectly safe. The permit in that customer’s pocket only mattered because the gun was actually on him when the moment arrived. Mindset, a verbal challenge, and a firearm within reach. That is the whole sequence.
Anyone with information is asked to call LASD Homicide detectives at 323-890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
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