Update: It’s now being reported that Steve Driver died from injuries sustained in a fall.
from www.latimes.com – A porn actor suspected of fatally stabbing a former co-worker and wounding two others during a violent rampage died Saturday after he jumped off a cliff following a dramatic, daylong standoff with police in which he threatened to kill himself with a samurai sword.
Stephen Clancy Hill, 34, spent about eight hours on the edge of a rocky cliff in Canoga Park surrounded by police and talking to crisis negotiators.
With dusk approaching and Hill continuing to threaten to kill himself, members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s elite SWAT unit tried to subdue and apprehend him, using some sort of less-than-lethal weapon, said Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese, who oversaw the incident.
Seated on the cliff’s edge, Hill threw himself over at 5:30 p.m. and suffered fatal head injuries from the roughly 50-foot fall, authorities said.
Albanese declined to discuss the specifics of the weapon used and the plan that had been devised to capture Hill.
“He was bent on taking his own life,” Albanese said. “It’s very unfortunate. We wanted this to end a different way.”
Update: West Hills, Calif: About 6:30PM authorities now report that Steve Driver is in critical condition after a 40 to 50 foot fall off a cliff after he had been tasered by LAPD.
KABC-TV reports: Investigators say an adult-film actor who allegedly killed a co-worker with a sword and slashed others Tuesday was in a police standoff near a home on the 8800 block of Azul Drive in West Hills Saturday.
At approximately 5:30 p.m., police attempted to end the standoff. They surrounded the suspect in close proximity as he turned around and attempted to jump. At least one officer fired a Taser or beanbag gun at Hill as he went over the edge. The suspect was immediately detained. His condition was not released.
A SWAT team surrounded the West Hills home and a barricade was set up around the premises at around 9:30 a.m. Authorities established contact inside with 34-year-old Stephen Clancy Hill.
Later in the day, the suspect reportedly climbed a hillside near the house and threatened suicide. At 4:15 p.m., the standoff continued. Hill was standing at the edge of a high cliff as police personnel nearby tried to negotiate with him.
Investigators said when police arrived on the scene, there was a short foot pursuit as they chased Hill to the edge of the cliff. He remained at the edge as police surrounded him. He threatened to kill himself with a sword he was holding against his torso, or by jumping over the edge.
Given Hill’s location on the edge of the cliff, the LAPD said they did not want to use any methods other than negotiating for fear that non-lethal methods could push Hill over the edge.
Crisis negotiators and SWAT officers were trying to convince Hill to surrender peacefully. Police said Hill would be hospitalized due to probable dehydration from being out on the cliff for about seven hours. He would then be arrested and charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
“They threw him some water a little while ago,” said local resident Tom Sprague. “He sat down. That’s the first time I’ve seen him sit down. He drank the water and then he got back up and when the SWAT team moves in, he pulls the knife to his chest and then threatens that he’s going to fall on it.”
At approximately 5:30 p.m., police moved in. They could be seen in close proximity to the suspect as he turned around and attempted to jump. At least one officer fired a Taser or beanbag gun at Hill as he went over the edge.
The suspect was immediately detained, but his condition was not released.
Hill allegedly attacked his colleagues at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ultima DVD Inc.’s distribution and production center at the Hayvenhurst Airport Business Park near Hayvenhurst Avenue and Saticoy Street in Van Nuys. There was allegedly filming going at the adult-video distribution business and Hill was working on the set.
Hill was charged Friday with murder and attempted murder. Ultima DVD Inc.’s Eric Jover offered a $2,000 reward on the company’s website for information leading to the arrest of Hill.
Hill allegedly attacked one man near the back of the facility and turned on two others when they tried to intervene, police said. A 30-year-old man who tried to help suffered a stab wound to the torso and died at a hospital. The other two victims were expected to survive.
Surveillance photos show Hill apparently leaving the crime scene with the sword still in his hand.
Apparently the weapon was a prop used in porn films. One man who didn’t want to be identified told Eyewitness News that Hill always carried weapons and swords in his vehicle.
Hill was living in the building where the attack took place. He was reportedly about to be fired for inappropriate behavior and was told he would have to move out.
Hill appeared in some Ultima films and is credited with having appeared in 13 adult films and went by the stage name “Steve Driver.” He had also worked on Ultima film’s website, according to police.
According to several reports, Hill has had a history of violence. In 1998, he attended the University of Maryland, where he was arrested for threatening a teaching assistant with a gun in order to get an “A” on a test.
from www.latimes.com – Officers used nonlethal ammunition to subdue Hill, who fell from the cliff after he was struck, according to police. He is now in custody, but his condition was not disclosed.
The standoff began about 9:30 a.m. when someone called police to say they had spotted the suspect’s blue 1998 Toyota RAV4 in the 8800 block of Azul Drive in Canoga Park, said Officer Bruce Borihahn of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Officers called the SWAT team and negotiators when Hill made his way up a nearby hill and stood holding a sword, pointing it toward his body, Borihahn said. It is unknown whether the sword is the same weapon used in the earlier attack.
Hill, who performs under the name Steve Driver, has been at large since Tuesday night, when he allegedly used a sword to attack six employees at Ultima DVD Inc., a video distribution business in Van Nuys where he did production work and apparently lived, police said.
Investigators said Hill allegedly attacked a man in a back room of the business and then turned toward two colleagues who had rushed in to help the man, swinging the weapon repeatedly and gashing both of them.
All three victims were rushed to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where Herbert Hin Wong, 30, of Canoga Park was pronounced dead, police said. The other two men were treated, but their conditions were not known.
On Friday, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged Hill with one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder.
Update: According to afternoon news reports, Steve Driver aka Stephen Hill was standing perched on a cliff at the end of Azul Drive in West Hills. Also, according to reports, 4 LAPD SWAT officers had been approaching Driver in a “non-threatening” manner but when they did Driver stood up and held a Samurai Sword against his belly.
Driver threatened to kill himself and reportedly told police he wants to die. Driver’s other option was to drop off a cliff that had a 30 foot-drop. Driver was spotted earlier in the day by a resident of Azul Drive who recognized the car and Driver. That resident called police about 9:30 AM. Police say if Driver gives himself up, he would be taken to a hospital, rehydrated and booked for murder and four attempts of murder.
Update: I’m told that the residence where Steve Driver is currently holed up belongs to Bondage maven Michael Kahn michaelkahnsworld.com/home.htm Kahn used to have a talk show on KSEX.
Update: from www.latimes.com – The Los Angeles police SWAT team on Saturday surrounded a home in Canoga Park, not far from the Chatsworth Nature Preserve, where a man matching the description of the porn actor suspected of killing one man and injuring two others at a Van Nuys production facility on Wednesday is threatening to jump off a cliff.
Officers were sent to the home in the 8000 block of Azul Drive around 9:30 a.m. The home sits on a rocky hillside. Details as to why officers were called are unknown, said LAPD Officer April Harding.
It was unknown whether the suspect’s vehicle was also at the location. Stephen Clancy Hill, a porn actor who performs under the name Steve Driver, has been at large since Wednesday night when he allegedly used a machete-style weapon to stab and slash employees at a production facility in Van Nuys, authorities said.
At least one man was killed and two others were injured in the rampage. Investigators say Hill may have been angry after learning that he was about to be fired from his job and evicted from his living quarters. Hill was last seen driving a blue Toyota RAV4.
Earlier – from www.nbclosangeles.com – A Los Angeles police SWAT team has surrounded a house in the West Hills area above Chatsworth, and a police source says the suspect from last week’s deadly Samurai-style sword rampage at a Van Nuys pornography warehouse may be inside.
[According to the Associated Press, a barricade was set up around the home in the West Hills neighborhood about 9:30 a.m., LAPD Officer April Harding said.]
Officers established contact with a man inside. They believe he is Stephen Clancy Hill, who faces one charge of murder and five counts of attempted murder in the sword attack Tuesday at a DVD production center. One person died and two others were injured.
A reliable LAPD official told City News Service that the department believes Stephen Clancy Hill, 34, is inside a house in the 8000 block of Azul Drive. Hill is also known by his stage name, “Steve Driver,” and is wanted on one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder for a slashing attack at the Ultima DVD company’s warehouse near Van Nuys Airport Tuesday night.
Los Angeles fire department units were deployed to the Rocky Peak area, just north of the home, in case a fire broke out in the heavy brush in the Santa Susana Pass, just north of the home.
Hill, 34, allegedly killed fellow actor Herbert Hin Wong, 30, of Van Nuys, by stabbing him in the abdomen Tuesday night at the company’s facility, near Van Nuys Airport. Hill had been living in the warehouse-style office in the 7600 block of Hayvenhurst Avenue, and was about to be fired and evicted when he allegedly went on a rampage with the sword.
Wong had also performed in videos under the name “Tom Dong,” according to Ultima DVD, and had appeared in at least two productions with Hill. The company’s owner said Wong had sacrificed his life so that others could escape.
In 1999, Hill was convicted of assault with a firearm for threatening to kill a University of Maryland college professor for not giving him an “A,” reported the Washington Post.