Body cam footage shows police shoot knife-wielding suspect who attacked officer in Ceres
CERES -- Body camera footage was released Friday of an incident that saw police shoot and kill a knife-wielding suspect who attacked an officer in Ceres on May 10.
The Ceres Police Department said officers responded that day to a report of a man waving a knife at family members during an argument at an address on Dirk Court.
That man—Alexander Yepez Ortega, 22—ran from the scene when the officers arrived but was found about half an hour later hiding in a vehicle on 6th Street.
At one point, Yepez Ortega exited the vehicle and waved the knife at the law enforcement officials who were trying to get him to surrender. That is when officers shot him.
(Viewer discretion advised: The full video contains graphic images and can be viewed in full on the Ceres Police Department's YouTube channel.)
The video released Friday shows officers with their guns drawn on Yepez Ortega while he is sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle with the door closed. The officers repeatedly tell him to keep his hands up where they can see him and to open the door.
As an officer walks around the vehicle and opens the driver's side door, Yepez Ortega exits the passenger side and swings the knife at another officer—it is from the body cam of this officer that we are seeing footage of the encounter.
As Yepez Ortega tries to attack the officer, he is shot multiple times and falls to the ground. He died at the scene.
The officer suffered injuries in the knife attack and was taken to an area hospital.
"I think I got stabbed in my arm," the officer is heard in the video telling another officer.
When dispatchers were initially provided Yepez Ortega's name, it was learned that he had a warrant out for his arrest for assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence in Modesto. His criminal history further contains incidents of vehicle theft, DUI, violating a criminal protective order and leading police on a chase.
No other injuries were reported.
As is policy, Ceres police are performing internal criminal and administrative investigations into the incident while the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office is performing an independent investigation into the matter.