A man who had been cutting himself with a knife then charged at Topeka police and was shot to death

A man cut himself several times with a knife, then stood up and charged Friday morning at three Topeka police officers, who each fired gunshots, killing him, authorities said.

Investigators were seeking Saturday to determine the man's identity.

Topeka Police Chief Bryan Wheeles said the man was shot in an area where railroad tracks run just northeast of S.E. 4th and Holliday.

Police weren't revealing the identities of the officers, who weren't hurt.

"This incident is a community tragedy," Wheeles said. "We are all saddened here today. Our prayers go out to all the impacted families."

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation was serving as the lead agency for the investigation into the death, according to Wheeles.

The Shawnee County Sheriff's Office and BNSF Railway Police Department were also involved, he said.

Topeka officers responded to calls about man armed with knife

Multiple citizens called dispatchers just before 9 a.m. Friday to report that a man armed with a knife was threatening people and acting erratically in the area of the city's Amtrak station at 500 S.E. Holliday Place, Wheeles said.

Uniformed Topeka police officers went to the scene and located the man northeast of S.E. 4th and Holliday, he said.

Officers sought to convince the man to put down the knife, said Melissa Underwood, communications director for the KBI.

"As they negotiated with him, he cut himself several times with his knife," Underwood said. "Law enforcement officers deployed bean bag rounds and used other less-than-lethal methods to try to subdue the man."

Those efforts were unsuccessful, Underwood said.

Police called for additional resources, including an ambulance, Wheeles said.

'He then stood up and deliberately charged'

"A little before 10 a.m., despite all prior police efforts, the subject refused to drop the knife," Wheeles said. "He then stood up and deliberately charged at a group of police officers in close proximity. Those officers discharged their weapons in self-defense, as they feared for their lives."

All three officers fired toward the man, who was struck multiple times, Underwood said.

The man was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to a Topeka hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

More than a dozen law enforcement vehicles responded to the shooting scene, where yellow crime scene tape was put up.

Wheeles said Topeka police followed standard protocol by placing all three officers who fired gunshots on paid administrative leave while the death was being investigated.

The same was done with a fourth officer who deployed less-than-lethal munitions, Wheeles said.

Underwood said that once the KBI's investigation was complete, its findings would be turned over to Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay's office for review.

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Tim Hrenchir can be reached at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Police fatally shoot man who charged them near city's Amtrak station