A man suspected in a stabbing was shot and killed by a security guard Tuesday morning near a Metro station in East Hollywood, according to authorities.
The stabbing and shooting were reported in the 1500 block of North Vermont Avenue at a Metro station. Authorities received a call Tuesday morning about a security guard who had been stabbed in the leg.
Metro said the confrontation occurred after guards investigated reports of a trespasser at the Metro B Line Station.
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The man was a passenger on a westbound train that was just about to arrive at the station when he pulled the emergency brake, causing the train to stop, police said. The armed guards contracted to work with Metro were on the train.
When the train started moving again, the same man pulled the emergency brake a second time, police said. The man got off the train and was followed by the two guards into an area not open to the public, authorities said.
"This morning, Metro Contract Security encountered a trespasser during a routine security sweep of an ancillary (non-public) area of the Vermont/Sunset Station," Metro said in a statement. "This resulted in an altercation where Contract Security Guards first utilized pepper spray and then after the trespasser stabbed one of the Contract Security Guards in the leg, a Contract Security Guard fired a weapon in self-defense. The Contract Security Guard has been transported to the hospital in stable condition. The trespasser did not survive his injuries."
The LAPD said it was unclear whether one or both of the security guards opened fire. The man went up a staircase after the shooting and exited the station through a hatch that opens onto the sidewalk.
He then collapsed on the sidewalk, police said. A knife was found next to the dead man, police said.
Video from NewsChopper4 showed investigators at the scene, where a pop-up tent was on the sidewalk near Children's Hospital Los Angeles and a Metro station. A man in his 40s with gunshot wounds died at the scene.
