IRVINE —An officer with the Irvine Police Department shot and killed a 20-year-old man who charged at officers with a knife yesterday, ABC 7 News reported.
The victim was suffering from a mental health episode and called 9-1-1 before officers arrived. The shooting took place in the Turtle Rock neighborhood of Irvine.
“After the officer-involved shooting, we rendered aid. The man was transported to a local hospital,” said Irvine PD Officer Ziggy Azarcon, according to ABC 7.
The confrontation unfolded just before noon near Sungate and Silkwood, where officers say they found the man in the street holding the knife. Negotiators from Irvine police’s crisis team and other responders worked to calm him and persuade him to surrender peacefully, but police say he eventually charged at officers and was shot.
The man was taken to a hospital, where he died, according to police. His identity was initially withheld pending notification of relatives, though later reports identified him as Daniel Alfons Meltvedt of Irvine, according to KTLA.
Police said one officer suffered minor injuries during the incident. The knife was recovered at the scene, and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office responded as part of the standard investigation into an officer-involved shooting.
The shooting has drawn attention because police say the call began as a mental health crisis, raising questions about crisis response, de-escalation and the use of force. The investigation remains active.
In August 2024, Irvine officers shot and killed 37-year-old Paul Parvea Montazer while he was stabbing his 72-year-old mother outside their home on Green Tree Lane. Police said officers saw the attack in progress, ordered him to stop, and shot him after he advanced toward them with the knife. Both Montazer and his mother, Parvin Montazer, died at the scene. Irvine police later released body-camera footage from that 2024 shooting.
In 2016, a CHP officer shot a Riverside man on the 5 Freeway in Irvine after investigators said he advanced toward the officer in what they believed was a suicide attempt.
