New footage shows deputy fatally shoot man armed with tool at Pearblossom store

ByABC7.com staff KABC logo
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
New video shows fatal deputy-involved shooting at Pearblossom store
New video shows a deadly encounter between a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy and a man armed with a sharp tool at an Antelope Valley gas station.

PEARBLOSSOM, Calif. (KABC) -- New video shows a deadly encounter between a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy and a man armed with a sharp tool at an Antelope Valley gas station.



The video shows the man ask a clerk at the convenience store to call 911 and request an ambulance, and threaten to stab the clerk if he didn't.



When the sheriff's department arrives on scene, the man is outside the store at the Shell station on Pearblossom Highway. One deputy can be heard shouting repeatedly at the man to drop the object in his hand and stop advancing toward them.



"Please don't do this. Drop whatever is in your hand. Drop whatever is in your hand. I don't want to do this man. If you come close to me I'm gonna shoot you."



Eventually the man continues advancing and the deputies shoot him. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.



The man was later identified as 30-year-old Joseph Westley Henson.



The incident happened Feb. 23 around 6:45 a.m.



Deputies later recovered the sharp object, which appeared to be a metal tool on a handle, possibly a screwdriver or a pick.

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