San Diego woman fatally shot after stabbing police officer trying to serve eviction notice

A San Diego woman was shot to death by police who were attempting to serve her an eviction notice and she stabbed one of the officers in the chest.

Yan Li, 47, was shot in her apartment after she threatened police officers with knives as they tried to deliver eviction paperwork. The scene was captured on police body cameras.

Footage shows officer Jason Bunch knocking on Li’s door at her Acqua Vista apartment to serve the papers. When Li answers the door, Bunch notices she is holding a butcher’s knife.

The video then shows Bunch warning Li several times to put the knife down, and that if she attacked him with it he would be forced to shoot her. Li throws the papers on the floor and slams the door.

The redacted footage resumes as officers barge into Li’s apartment and find her barricaded in her bedroom, this time holding a different knife. When Bunch asks whether anyone is injured, an officer responds that he has been stabbed and Li’s lifeless body can be seen on the floor.

‘This is just a classic example of unnecessary escalation of a conflict resulting in a lawful shooting,’ civil rights attorney John Carpenter said to the San Diego Tribune. “The (deputy’s) job was done, he’s a process server … you serve the process and then leave.”