Monday, 27 July 2026, 23:47
A dramatic police confrontation unfolded Wednesday morning, July 22, in Los Alamitos, California, when officers shot a machete-wielding man following a brief pursuit. The incident forced the nearby UCI Health medical center into lockdown as law enforcement managed the scene.
The chain of events began shortly after 10 a.m. when the Long Beach Fire Department reported a car following their vehicle and brake-checking it near East Willow and Palo Verde in Los Alamitos. Fire personnel alerted police, suspecting a possible DUI or road rage incident. According to the Long Beach Police Department, the suspect allegedly struck a Long Beach Fire Department vehicle that was transporting a patient. Officers attempted a traffic stop, but the driver fled east toward UCI Health at Katella Avenue and East Willow.
At the hospital parking lot, the suspect exited his car armed with a machete around 11 a.m. First responders were heard reporting on radio traffic: "He is running eastbound towards the hospital. He's holding a machete. Male, white, shaved head, no shirt, gray shorts. Advise the hospital; we're going to have to lock it down." A SWAT team and crisis negotiators were called in, but the man refused to surrender. Witnesses said it was about 40 minutes before police turned to less-lethal measures, including beanbag rounds and K-9s, but these were also unsuccessful. Video from the Citizen app shows a shirtless man yelling and waving a machete at officers, who are firing less-lethal rounds. At one point, the man charges the officers and ducks out of view behind several cars as shots ring out. Bystanders can be heard screaming in the background. According to Los Alamitos Police Department Support Services Manager Robert Acosta, the suspect then advanced toward officers, prompting them to open fire. Acosta elaborated: "They then went to less-than-lethal, and that was unsuccessful also, and so then the suspect started to run in the direction of the officers with his machete, and that's when the officers made the decision to fire." The suspect was struck and transported to UCI Medical Center in critical condition. Officials later said the suspect is out of surgery and in stable but critical condition.
Witness Ashley Newton described the scene: "We went to the hallway doors, and I stood there for the majority of the time, and he was wielding a machete around. He was like, huffing his chest a lot and pulling his arms up, like you could tell he was very angry." Reflecting on the incident, Newton added, "Just having a little bit of empathy or sympathy for people with mental health issues. It's sad. It's sad to see something like that happen." Another witness, Maggie Knoles, who was inside a nearby medical building, said she heard what sounded like gunshots. "I felt sorry, you know? Sad that things in our world have turned to situations like this, and people are getting killed because they're not stopping and thinking about... they're not thinking about the consequences of the things that they're doing," she said.
UCI Health was placed on lockdown for several hours as a precaution due to the shooting's proximity. Acosta clarified that the hospital itself was not involved in the standoff. The lockdown was lifted after the scene was secured. UCI Health confirmed that co-workers and patients were safe and patient care remained uninterrupted. In a statement, a UCI Health - Los Alamitos spokesperson said their staff and patients are safe, and care remained uninterrupted during the brief lockdown.
Because both Los Alamitos and Cypress police departments responded jointly, it remains unclear which agency fired the shots. Acosta said that officers from two of the police agencies on scene had fired their weapons multiple times. The officers involved in the shooting were not from the Long Beach Police Department, the agency said in a statement. An officer-involved shooting investigation team from Los Alamitos police is examining the incident. The Orange County District Attorney's Office will also investigate, as is standard for officer-involved shootings. No officers were injured. The investigation involves multiple agencies, including police from Los Alamitos, Cypress and Long Beach.
This incident occurred in Los Alamitos, a city in Orange County, near the border with Long Beach in Los Angeles County. The area is a busy corridor with multiple hospitals and medical facilities. The involvement of multiple agencies highlights the region's coordinated law enforcement response.
Machete-related confrontations with police have occurred in Southern California in recent months. In January, a machete-wielding man attacked a teen in a Pomona laundromat, and in August 2025, LAPD released video of a fatal encounter with a suspect swinging a machete outside Crypto.com Arena. These events underscore the dangers officers face when suspects are armed with bladed weapons.
The shooting remains under investigation. Authorities urge anyone with information to contact the Los Alamitos Police Department. The incident serves as a reminder of the volatility of police encounters involving edged weapons.
