Gunman shot dead by sheriff's deputies after confrontation

A 37-year-old man was in critical but stable condition after an altercation Sunday morning with Ventura County sheriff's deputies that resulted in one of the officers shooting the man, according to a Ventura County Sheriff's Office spokesperson.

The man's name has not yet been released.

The shooting happened shortly after deputies responded to a 911 call reporting a man walking with a knife near Erbes Road and Avenida de los Arboles in Thousand Oaks around 6:50 a.m. on June 30.

The sheriff's office said in a later news release that the man was shot after he advanced on a deputy “in a threatening manner with another device that appeared to be a bow and arrow.”

VCSO Public Information Officer Senerey De Los Santos said in a news release that a knife and what appeared to be a bow were recovered at the scene.

VCSO personnel at the scene of the investigation said the deputy involved did not suffer any physical injuries.

From Los Santos said The acorn Only one deputy was involved in the shooting. Standard protocol at the sheriff's office calls for deputies to take three days off after a shooting.

The sheriff's office and the district attorney's office are investigating the incident.

De Los Santos had no further information to share as the VCSO investigation continues.

Thousand Oaks resident Londyn Nordhoff saw the incident unfold. She was walking to a store in the Oakbrook Plaza shopping center at the corner of Erbes and Avenida de los Arboles when the incident happened.

She said the mood among the audience was initially light, with spectators making jokes and calling out to the man.

“When I got to Vons and got out of the car, everyone in the parking lot was looking in the direction of Erbes Road,” Nordhoff said.

“(The spectators) said the police were 'chasing Chewbacca' and (the spectators) shouted 'Run, Forrest, run',” an allusion to the film “Forrest Gump.”

The situation had become much more serious by the time she left the grocery store.

“I went in and I came out and now everyone is looking at Arboles,” Nordhoff said.

She also looked in that direction and saw a man wearing some kind of white scarf on his head and holding a white triangular object.

“It didn’t look like a knife or a gun,” she said. “It looked like those plastic (PVC) pipes but in a triangle shape.”

The witness said its height was roughly equivalent to the man's upper torso.

“It looked about the size of a help wanted sign you see on the side of the street,” Nordhoff said.

“All of a sudden you hear a bunch of sirens. Before, there were just lights and everyone was like, ‘Back up, back up, let go,’” she said. “They told him a bunch of times.”

That's when she heard what she believes were about six gunshots, separated by a short pause between the first two and the rest.