MONTEREY PARK — The fatal police shooting of a man who lunged at a police officer with a metal bar Monday was caught on amateur video.

Steve Rodriguez, 22, was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the shooting, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner’s Chief of Operations Craig Harvey said. His city of residency was not known Tuesday.

The shooting took place about 9:30 a.m. Monday in the parking lot of a Carl’s Jr. restaurant in the 1200 block of Avenida Cesar Chavez, where Rodriguez was reportedly smashing out windows with a three-foot-long metal bar.

Monterey Park police officers responded to reports about the man’s window-smashing, sheriff’s officials said.

The video shows Rodriguez exit the eatery with a metal bar, when he was immediately confronted by two police officers, who who were not identified Tuesday. One of the officers held a Taser, the other pointed a pistol in his right hand and held a police dog’s leash in the other.

The officer with the Taser is seen apparently firing the device<NO1><NO>. At least one of the Taser darts appeared to have hit Rodriguez in the face, the video shows. He swatted at the dart, but it did not slow him down and only appeared to agitate <NO1><NO>him, the video shows.

Rodriguez then turned toward the officer who fired the Taser and began approaching him while grasping the metal bar in a baseball bat grip, the video shows.

The officer who shot at Rodriguez with the Taser appeared to be struggling to remove his pistol from its holster as the second officer opened fire, the video shows.

After a volley of five shots in rapid succession, Rodriguez stumbled back, dropped the metal bar and turned his back to the officers, though he remained on his feet. The officer then fired a second volley of five shots, causing Rodriguez to fall to the ground.

The camera’s view of Rodriguez is obscured during the second round of gunfire by a parked car.

The man who shot the cell phone video, who asked that his name be withheld due to privacy concerns, said he was planning on removing the video from the Internet once he learned the man who was shot had died, but changed his mind after seeing “a falsified report,” in the news.

He said he read a news story in which, “a female officer described that the suspect swung (the metal bar) twice.”

The cameraman said his footage, as well as his memory, told a different story. While Rodriguez took an aggressive stance toward an officer and drew back as though he was about to strike him, he said, there was no swing.

While the amateur video is an important piece of evidence, Lt. Eddie Hernandez of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said there is a great deal of additional evidence to be considered.

“Keep in mind, the video that was posted on YouTube, it’s a very narrow prism,” the lieutenant said. “The investigation is in its infancy right now.”

Investigators will also review videos of the incident that have not been released to the public, Hernandez said, including security camera footage from inside the restaurant, footage from neighboring businesses and footage from cameras mounted in Monterey Park police patrol cars.

Detectives were also continuing Tuesday to interview about 25 witnesses, Hernandez said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is assisting in the investigation, as is common in officer-involved shootings involving Los Angeles County police agencies.

Hernandez did not know the status of the officers involved in the shooting. Monterey Park police declined to comment on the identity or status of the officers. 

Hernandez described the metal bar Rodriguez had been clutching as a “pipe bender” — a tool used by electricians to bend electrical conduits.

Investigators continued piecing together the events that led up to the shooting, Hernandez said.

Witnesses reported the suspect was not yelling or speaking to anyone as he smashed the windows inside the restaurant, and his motive in the alleged vandalism was unknown.

“In the beginning, he was very nonchalantly breaking windows,” said the amateur cameraman.

Once police arrived and confronted Rodriguez, “They were telling him to put his hands up,” he said. “He brushed them off as they were shouting orders at him. He got Tasered in the face. He didn’t even react to it.”

The cameraman added that even after the shooting, he didn’t immediately realize what had taken place. Until getting home and seeing news coverage of the incident, “I was really convinced that they were rubber pellets that were shot at him,” he said.

The officers involved did not recognize Rodriguez from any previous encounters, Hernandez added.

The only Los Angeles County Superior Court case listed in a county database against a person by Rodriguez’s name and birthdate was a drunken driving case filed Dec. 28 in Alhambra Superior Court. The case stemmed from an Oct. 30 arrest in Alhambra. Further details on the case were not available.

No drugs were found on Rodriguez’s person, Hernandez said. An autopsy will determined whether any substances were in his system at the time of the incident.

Once sheriff’s officials, police, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s officials and the County of Los Angeles Office of Independent Review have completed their investigations, the information will be turned over to the district attorney’s office for review.