FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County sheriff's deputies are investigating a shooting involving one of their deputies.
The shooting happened at 2.35 p.m. on Friday afternoon in the area of Circle Court and Norris Drive in Fresno County.
Deputies say a woman called 911, saying he was threatening her.
Deputies arrived on this street and saw the suspect in question standing on the driveway with a knife.
Witnesses say the officers asked the man repeatedly to put down the weapon, but the man refused to comply and was acting irrationally.
The sheriff's office says the suspect ended up taking a few steps towards the officers and that is when one of them fired multiple times.
"I know there may be some naysayers who say he didn't have a gun, he had a knife. Well there's been studies that show if a somebody is armed with a knife and they are within 21 feet of you, they can react quicker than you with a gun," said Tony Botti of the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.
The suspect is still in the hospital where he had surgery earlier on Friday evening.
The deputies who were involved in the shooting will be interviewed at a later time.
The sheriff's office at this deputy-involved shooting comes at a difficult time when there have been several officers shot and killed on the job in just the state of California.