A man suspected of trying to rob an Anaheim Subway restaurant held two women at knife-point before he was shot by police, officers said Sunday.
"Cops were over the microphone saying, 'Come outside if you want to be alive' or 'no one will get hurt if you just come outside,'" Brenda Macbenttez, who witnessed the police shooting, said.
Dispatch first received a hushed call from a woman whispering into the phone calling from the restaurant at 1131 West Lincoln Avenue, Anaheim police said.
When officers arrived, a 33-year-old man was holding two female employees at knife-point with an 8 to 10-inch blade.
Police said the man was trying to rob the Subway restaurant.
Officers went inside the store. It wasn't clear what exactly led to the shooting, but an officer fired a weapon, police said.
Macbenttez shot cellphone video from her apartment nearby. Gunshots can be heard before she says, "Oh, my God."
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"I was scared to get shot because they were so close or the guy, I didn't see if he was armed or anything," Macbenttez said.
He was taken to the hospital, and he was in critical condition at the hospital. Officers said he was expected to survive.
"It was weird because his whole face was drenched in blood and his body," Abel Aguilar, witness, said.
No customers were in the store at the time of the alleged robbery.
"The two female victims while traumatized, were not harmed," Anaheim police said in a statement.
Officers were wearing body cameras at the time of the shooting, but the footage was not released to the public.
As standard, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office will investigate the officer-involved shooting. Macbenttez's video will be a part of the investigation as well.
