Los Angeles Police shot a man armed with a knife near the city’s famed Hollywood Blvd. on Saturday as violent crime continues to surge across the country.
The LAPD confirmed to Fox News that a man carrying a knife was shot by police at 11:06 AM local time near the intersection of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Blvd.
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The LAPD spokesperson added that the man was taken to a local hospital and is now in police custody.
The shooting comes the same week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation released 2020 crime statistics that showed a surge in murder nationwide.
The United States experienced a nearly 30% jump in homicides in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to the , which made for the largest single-year increase in since the agency began tracking crimes.
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More than 21,000 homicides were reported last year, 4,901 more than in 2019, the biggest leap since the 1960s. Overall violent crime – which includes homicides, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault – increased by 5.6% and property crimes dropped by nearly 8%, according to FBI data.
The jump comes as several cities are seeing record spikes in gun violence after decades of declines in violent crime. The report showed most of the violence involved firearms. About 77% of reported murders were committed with some sort of gun.
Statistics released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff earlier this year showed a 200% crime spike from the same time in 2020.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told Fox News criminals are emboldened by District Attorney George Gascón’s progressive policies and stressed that people must understand that such elections will have consequences.
“They need to really pick and choose very carefully because for them it’s very easy to say, ‘Oh yeah, all cops are bad,’ and, ‘Let’s reform and defund the police,'” Villanueva said. “Yet they’re the very first ones to pick up the 911 when someone’s crawling over their back gate trying to get into their house.”
Fox News’ Louis Casiano and Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report
Andrew Mark Miller is a writer at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com
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