Los Angeles A porn actor wanted for allegedly murdering a co-worker with a samurai-style sword died after jumping from a cliff edge following a standoff with law enforcement, the police said.
Stephen Hill plunged around 50 feet off a sheer rock face on Saturday after being stunned with a Taser by Los Angeles police department officers who had been negotiating with him for several hours.
Television footage of the incident showed Hill scrambling off the edge of the cliff feet first as the police moved in after stunning him.
“He jumped down off the cliff after he was Tased,” police spokesman Bruce Borihanh said. Whether Hill died from being Tasered, the fall or possibly landing on the sword he was armed with was under investigation, he said. Hill was wanted for one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder after attacking colleagues at a pornographic film distribution company warehouse in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Saturday’s dramatic denouement began when the police received a tip-off that Hill had been spotted at a property in the San Fernando Valley. He was found at the property and was subsequently cornered by officers at the edge of a steep cliff near the house, where he had threatened to kill himself. —AFP