See the update at the end of this post identifying the dead man as Joseph Thomas Brewer Jr., 54.
ORIGINAL POST, JUNE 13, 7:23 A.M.: The source of gunfire in a quiet, relatively crime-free residential neighborhood of Orange early Wednesday remained a mystery for most of the day before police much later in the day confirmed an officer fatally shot a dude. Neither the officer, a 10-year veteran, nor the dead man, a 54-year-old said to be wielding a knife before he was taken out, were identified.
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The Orange Police Department had been called to a home in the 2100 block of North Shaffer Street just after 2 a.m. in regards to a man with a knife, according to Sgt. Fred Lopez.
The arriving officer was confronted by the knifeman, prompting the shooting that did not leave the cop injured. It did leave the suspect no more, however; he was pronounced dead about 5:15 a.m. at a local hospital, Lopez said.
A neighbor who lives a block away on Cleveland Street told City News Service she heard three shots shortly after 2 a.m., followed by women's voices arguing, then sirens.
That kind of noise in not typical for that neighborhood, the unidentified woman noted, particularly the sound of gunfire.
“That's why it freaked me out,” she reportedly said.
UPDATE, JUNE 15, 10 A.M.: An officer responding to a call of a man with a knife arrived to find just that in front of a residence in the 2100 block of North Shaffer Street, according to Orange Police.
Shortly after that, an unidentified officer fatally shot Joseph Thomas Brewer Jr., 54, police added.
No further details have been released.
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