Woman fatally shoots man armed with knives at Monrovia home

MONROVIA, Calif. - An investigation is underway in Monrovia after a man was shot to death outside a home Friday evening. 

"It's a little traumatizing, I'm not gonna lie," said neighbor Paulette Polk. 

Polk lives in a bungalow in the back of the Monrovia home in the 400 block of S. Shamrock Avenue where the man was fatally shot. 

"I went outside, and I saw him in the driveway, and the police escorted me into the house to ask me questions about what was going on," she said.

Police say they were called to the home around 9:20 p.m. A woman called 911 reporting a man who she had a restraining order against was at her house armed with a knife. 

An investigation revealed the suspect was armed with multiple knives and attempted to stab the woman and another man at the home. The woman shot the suspect as a response, authorities said.

By the time police arrived, the suspect was dead. Police say they detained the woman and man for questioning, but no arrests were made.

Polk says a woman and her teenage daughter rented the home about six months ago, and the man often visited. She and other neighbors say they all kept to themselves. 

"We heard just the one ‘pop’ and my wife was getting ready for bed, and she goes, ‘was that a gunshot?’ And I was like,'I think that was.' Then we saw the police cars kind of speeding past. There are nine of them, and we're like, that's not, you know, this is Monrovia and nothing happens."

Stunned neighbors gathered outside the home Friday night trying to process the gruesome scene. 

"I found the knife. We were walking around and it was right over there," another neighbor said.

"I just saw something lying on the ground. I thought maybe it was like a leaf or something. You know, normal things that you'd see on the street. And then I looked closer and I was like, 'whoa, that's a knife.'"

"Nothing ever happens here. And it's just so crazy that something they thought would happen. It's sad."

Several knives and a firearm were recovered by investigators at the scene. 

It's still not clear exactly what the details were leading up to that shooting, but this case is now being handled by L.A. County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau.