Man suspected of being armed with knife shot, killed by deputies in East Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is under fire by the family of an East Los Angeles man who says their desperate call for help ended with their loved one dying at the hands of deputies.

Flowers mark the spot where 35-year-old David Ordaz Jr. was shot and killed by LASD over the weekend. The deadly shooting was caught on a cell phone video just after 2 p.m. Sunday.

Ordaz, the dad of three, had been battling depression, was suicidal and reached out to his sister for help. Ordaz's sister says they drove to a local hospital Sunday afternoon but Ordaz was afraid to get out of the car.

She says that's when they went back to the family's home in East LA and she called LASD for help.

That's when things went terribly wrong, she told FOX 11.

In the video, Ordaz is seen standing on the sidewalk with a kitchen knife in his right hand. His sister says, at this point, Ordaz was surrounded by deputies with duns drawn as she and other family members pleaded with him to drop the knife.

LASD said Ordaz refused to comply with the deputies' orders so they fired non-lethal stun bags at him first. Seconds later, the video shows Ordaz appearing to stumble or run away, and that was when deputies opened fire, shooting multiple rounds at him. The 35-year-old falls to the ground and deputies moved in.

Ordaz was pronounced dead at the hospital.

His sister tells FOX 11 the doctor told her her brother likely died from a shot to the heart. She believes deputies used excessive force and the family is consulting with an attorney Tuesday.

Meanwhile, LASD is continuing to investigate internally on Sunday's deadly shooting.

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