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Three Vancouver police officers shot a man Tuesday morning while responding to an assault at Fourth Plain Boulevard and Stapleton Road in central Vancouver.

A physical disturbance between two men was reported about 11:10 a.m. Arriving officers found one man lying unconscious on the ground. The other refused police commands to drop sharpened objects he was holding, according to the Vancouver Police Department.

According to emergency radio traffic monitored at The Columbian, the man was throwing pieces of sharpened pipe or construction rebar at officers just before he was shot.

Neither man’s name or medical condition was available by The Columbian’s deadline.

Carlton Ellis, 49, of Vancouver, said he was at the Sunrise Food Store grabbing a drink when a disturbance started in the parking lot, shared with two restaurants and a bakery. He believed a man was threatening a C-Tran security officer.