Video Shows San Francisco Police Gunning Down Knife-Wielding Man

Five San Francisco police officers surrounded then fatally shot on Wednesday a knife-wielding man who did not appear to pose a direct threat to them, in an incident that was captured on eyewitness videos and later confirmed by the San Francisco Police Department.

The video, which was posted by an Instagram user, shows a man staggering and attempting to walk away as police officers move towards him. A female voice in the video can be heard yelling "just drop it!" several seconds before police open fire, shooting what sounds like at least five or six rounds.

See the original Instagram video here.

Police say the man had been identified as a suspect in a non-fatal stabbing incident less than an hour earlier and that he was holding a six to eight-inch knife. When he refused to respond to initial non-lethal bean bag gun rounds as well as pepper spray, officers opened fire. The shooting took place around 4:30 p.m. local time in the Bayview district.

A press release from the San Francisco Police Department described the suspect as moving towards the officers while still armed with the knife, and that officers fired at the suspect, "fearing serious injury or death."

"The suspect had already demonstrated by committing a felony -- aggravated assault -- that he was a danger to others and he could not be allowed to move away from the scene," Police Chief Greg Suhr said at a press conference later that evening.

San Francisco's public defender, Jeff Adachi, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the man did not seem to be posing a direct threat to the officers and that he should not have been shot.

"It does not look like the officer who fired the fatal shots was in immediate danger of being killed," Adachi told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The name of the victim, who appears to be African-American, has not been released. The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave while an investigation takes place.