Lompoc police shoot and kill man with knife

November 22, 2016

A Lompoc police officer shot and killed a 27-year-old man who was fleeing authorities while holding a knife. The man confronted officers with the knife prior to being shot, according to the Lompoc Police Department.

At 8:04 a.m. Monday, a person at a laundromat in the 1000 block of North H Street called the police department and reported that a man who appeared to be intoxicated was inside the business and threatening to physically harm employees. The employees were asking the man to leave, and he was not complying.

Officers responded to the laundromat, and as they stepped inside the business, the suspect fled out the back. Police chased the man, who was later identified as Michael Ducaine Giles.

The officers contacted Giles outside the business and advised him he was at gunpoint because he had a knife. Giles then fled by running across traffic on North H Street. He hid in shrubs between a walking path and the Embassy Suites.

As officers began checking the area, Giles confronted them with the knife. That resulted in Giles being shot, a police department press release states.

Giles died of his injuries at the Lompoc District Hospital.

The police department has identified the officer who shot Giles as Corporal Charles Scott, a four-year veteran of the Lompoc force. Scott was recently promoted to the rank of corporal. He previously served eight years as a patrol officer and detective with the Chowchilla Police Department. Scott’s current status with the Lompoc Police Department is unclear.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s officials are handling the investigation into the shooting. Investigators are interviewing the officers involved, as well as witnesses.