BOSTON - 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 Col. 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."
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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.