LA MESA POLICE SHOOT MAN WHO REPORTEDLY THREW KNIFE AT GIRL, CHARGED AT OFFICER WITH MACHETE
By Miriam Raftery
Photo courtesy ECM news partner 10 News
May 21, 2018 (La Mesa) – A man accused of chasing and hurling a knife at a 13-year-old girl walking to Parkway Middle School this morning was shot and wounded by a La Mesa Police Officer. The suspect has been identified as Bernard Graham, 34, of Spring Valley.
The victim called 911 from a Subway sandwich shop on Fletcher Parkway to report that she was being chased by a man who confronted her near the Amaya trolley station and threw a closed pocket knife, which struck her. She said that the suspect, a thin black man in a black leather jacket, also had large knives.
According to the victim, he chased her across Fletcher Park and into a shopping center, where she ran into Subway to seek help. Police found a man matching the suspect’s description near the intersection of Fletcher Parkway and Amaya Drive.
The man was holding a large machete type knife in his hand and refused commands from officers to drop it, instead running into the street, a press release issued by La Mesa Police Department states. The release adds, “According to witnesses, the man stopped, turned towards one of the police officers and charged at him with the machete raised above his head.”
The officer fired his weapon, striking the man once in the abdomen and once in the arm. Officers rendered first aid until paramedics arrived and transported the man to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he underwent surgery and is in stable condition.