Man fatally shot by SMPD after stabbing officer |

SANTA MONICA – A 28-year-old man who stabbed a Santa Monica police officer in an unprovoked attack outside police headquarters, prompting the officer to fatally shoot him, stole the knife from a nearby Target store shortly before the fatal encounter , the police said on Tuesday.

According to the Santa Monica Police Department, the stabbing and shooting occurred around 5:20 p.m. Saturday outside police headquarters at 333 Olympic Drive.

About five minutes earlier, the suspect – identified as Deyaa Abdelhadi Halaibeh of New York – had robbed a Target store at 420 Broadway, where he pushed an employee to the ground and fled the store with a box of kitchen knives, police said.

“The box was later found abandoned with a knife missing. This knife, an 8-inch chef’s knife, was used by the subject when he approached the officer,” an SMPD statement said.

Police said the officer was outside the police station obtaining information from a person about an unrelated matter when the suspect attacked him. The officer ultimately shot the man, who died at the scene.

The officer was treated at a hospital for his stab wounds and released, police said.

Halaibeh had no criminal history in California or previous contacts with law enforcement in Santa Monica. Anyone with information about the robbery or assault was summoned