Irvine police fatally shoot man armed with knife; father says his son was autistic and posed no real threat to officers

A 20-year-old Irvine man who called 911 to report he was having a mental health crisis was shot to death by police Tuesday, July 21 after he allegedly ran toward officers with a knife following more than an hour of crisis negotiations, authorities said.

But Erich Meltvedt, a documentary filmmaker who lives in the quiet Turtle Rock neighborhood and identified himself as the father of the young man who died, said his son Daniel Meltvedt was autistic and posed no real threat to the several officers who were at the scene. Meltvedt said he watched in vain during the lengthy encounter as officers surrounded his son and ultimately shot him as he emerged from bushes with a knife near the family’s home.

Meltvedt’s efforts to intervene and help his son were thwarted by police, he said.

Late Tuesday evening, Irvine police had not yet released the identity of the man who was shot. Ziggy Azarcon, a police spokesman, declined to comment on Meltvedt’s criticism of the police response, and said he personally did not know the identity of the man who had been killed.

Police got the call around noon from the man, who reported he was in a mental health crisis and armed with a knife, according to Azarcon. Officers located the man in the area of Silkwood and Sungate in Irvine’s Turtle Rock neighborhood.

The department’s Crisis Negotiation Team spent more than an hour trying to communicate with the man, who had indicated he was suicidal, Azarcon said.

During the encounter, the man ran toward officers while armed with the knife, prompting an officer-involved shooting, Azarcon said.

The man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The man’s identity was not immediately released.

Meltvedt acknowledged that his son did have a knife, but he said it was pocket or kitchen knife that would have posed no threat to officers.

No officers were injured.

Irvine detectives and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the shooting.