Police shoot and kill man who tried to attack them with a knife in Spain

Two police officers have shot dead a 46-year-old Chinese man who tried to attack them with a knife in the city of Valencia in Spain. According to initial investigations, the officers were forced to shoot in self-defence when they were attacked in a confined space on a landing of a building.

The incident happened at around 4pm on Monday in a five-storey block in Calle Godofredo Ros when the National Police officers arrived after receiving a report of a violent argument between two neighbours.

A man who lives on the estate called 091 to ask the police to attend because a neighbour was banging on the door of his flat and had also threatened him with a knife. The first officers to arrive at the building interviewed the person who had called for help, and then went to the flat where the individual who had been involved in the incident lived.

This man, who apparently ran a bar in a nearby street, met the police officers with a large knife and lunged at them, forcing them to shoot in self-defence with their service weapons. The confrontation took place in a confined space, next to the door of the house, which limited the officers' movements and also their ability to respond quickly and appropriately to the attempted attack.

A resident of the street claims that he heard a dozen gunshots in a few seconds. "The shots were so close together that it sounded like a barrage," the man said. However, another witness said that the number of shots was lower: "Four or five." According to initial investigations, the Chinese citizen was shot four times and the two policemen fired seven shots.

After receiving a report of the shooting in the Monteolivete neighbourhood, a team from the emergency medical aid service (SAMU) arrived on the scene. Several National Police patrols also arrived to support the first officers who intervened in the incident.

While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, one of the policemen performed stabilisation techniques on the injured man, as well as cardiopulmonary resuscitation manoeuvres, which were then continued by the SAMU medics, but they were unable to save him, according to medical sources.

A forensic team arrived shortly afterwards and carried out a thorough inspection of the building. Police specialists collected the shell casings and examined the bullet impacts, as some of the shots missed the man.

Sources from the emergency information and coordination centre (CICU) and the Valencia regional police headquarters confirmed that the deceased man had "gunshot wounds", but did not specify the number of bullet impacts or shots fired by the officers.

After a thorough inspection by forensic officers, the judge on duty ordered the body to be removed shortly after 6pm. The body was then transferred to the institute of legal medicine in Valencia so that the forensic experts could carry out an autopsy.

The police officers who fired the shots have only been in the force for a few years, but they have experience in public safety services, as they belong to the operational response group (GOR) of the Ruzafa police station, a unit created to intervene in incidents that require immediate action. The two officers have served in numerous incidents that have occurred in recent years on the streets of Valencia.

The man who called the police for help said that his neighbour was very agitated and had a knife in his hand, so the officers took precautions and moved a little away from the door, but the assailant suddenly came out of the flat and attacked them.

According to local residents, the victim was not a violent person, although he allegedly drank a lot of alcohol since his separation from his wife, and had been involved in some incidents in the building.

The Chinese national sometimes used a crutch to walk due to sciatic nerve pain. Known to his friends as Luis, in 2010 he was stabbed in Beniferri when he defended a woman. He was hospitalised in La Fe after receiving three stab wounds to his chest, abdomen and shoulder. The police arrested the assailant for attempted murder.