Officer Fatally Shoots Suspect Carrying Knife In Boston: Police

BOSTON, June 19 (Reuters) - Police shot and killed a man who was wielding a knife near Boston University on Friday afternoon, according to the Massachusetts State Police.

"He was brandishing a knife, threatening the officer with a knife," said Colonel Timothy Alben, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police.

Alben said police had been pursuing the man, who they believed had an open arrest warrant for harassment, when a state police officer approached him, asked him to drop his weapon and then shot him when he refused.

His identity has not been released. Alben described him as a light-skinned male, "possibly Hispanic."

The local district attorney's office said it had opened an investigation to "determine whether criminal charges are warranted in connection with the use of lethal force."

The incident comes weeks after police shot dead another man brandishing a knife, Usaamah Abdullah Rahim, who they believed was plotting to behead Massachusetts police officers. (Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Eric Beech)