Police shot and killed a knife-wielding carjacker amid complete chaos on the streets of Washington, DC on Tuesday.
Disturbing footage showed cops screaming at the armed suspect to get on the ground after he climbed into a police cruiser on the 3500 block of Georgia Avenue NW, in Columbia Heights.
Just before that, the suspect had reached inside another cruiser and swung his knife at an officer.
He ultimately ran off before trying to carjack another vehicle with a woman inside.
That’s when police opened fire on the suspect, who died at the scene.
Authorities later identified the suspect as 29-year-old Surafel Zerihun, of Northwest.
DC’s Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela A. Smith described the astonishing series of events that led to the ‘enraged’ man being shot dead by an officer.
She said the carnage began when the suspect ‘drove into oncoming traffic and struck a marked MPD cruiser that was traveling northbound’ at around 6.10pm on Tuesday.
Smith said the suspect leapt out of his vehicle following the collision and ‘produced a knife,’ which he used to threaten the officer who was inside the cruiser.
The moment cops shot a carjacker dead amid complete chaos on the streets of Washington DC has been caught on camera
Police shared an image of the knife wielded by the suspect, which appeared to be flip knife
He ‘reached into the cruiser through an open window and demanded the officer’s service weapon while swinging the knife towards the officer,’ Smith said.
The officer retreated to the passenger seat of the cruiser and shouted at the suspect to ‘get back’ – but he refused and kept swinging his knife.
The cop responded by opening fire. He then jumped out of his vehicle to check on the suspect’s condition while radioing for backup.
The suspect managed to retrieve his knife from the ground before approaching the officer again.
As the officer shouted at him to stop, the suspect changed tack by charging at a second police cruiser located further down the block and got inside.
Several responding officers chased after him, cornered the cruiser and demanded that he get out.
‘After multiple commands, the suspect gets out of the cruiser while still armed with the knife,’ Smith said, describing the moments shown by the video posted online.
‘The suspect then approaches a vehicle occupied by a woman in the parking lot of the laundromat.
‘He opened the driver’s door of the vehicle while still armed with the knife in his hand and attempted to carjack the vehicle.
‘At this time, one of our officers discharged his service weapon at the suspect, striking him.’
Police responded by shooting at the man, who died at the scene on the 3500 block of Georgia Avenue NW, in the Columbia Heights area of the city
EMTs rushed to the scene, where the suspect was declared dead.
Smith said none of the officers involved or the woman in the vehicle were injured.
The two officers who fired shots have been placed on administrative leave, in line with standard procedure for incidents involving gunfire from cops.
Police shared an image of the knife wielded by the suspect, which appeared to be a flip knife.
The MPD told DailyMail.com that the investigation is ongoing and the suspect’s name is due to be released in the coming days.
