Police officers were placed on routine administrative leave Saturday after one of them shot and killed a Waipahu man brandishing a 12-foot metal pole with a sharpened blade at the end.

The man, 43, who witnesses say suffered from a mental disorder, had threatened a family member with the weapon, Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha said at a police press conference Saturday afternoon.

When officers responded to a dropped 911 call at the Hiapo Street home, the man refused their repeated orders to put the blade down and instead "began advancing toward the officers while making cutting motions," Kealoha said.

"One of the officers deployed his electric gun but it was ineffective, and the male continued his advance," Kealoha said. "A second officer fired multiple shots, fatally striking the male several times."

Kealoha said four officers sent to the scene around 3:10 a.m. have been placed on administrative leave, and criminal and administrative investigations have been opened following the incident.

An officer with 19 years of experience fired the electric gun, or Taser, and an officer with five years of experience was the only one who fired his gun, police said. The two other responding officers have 20 and 13 years of experience.

All four work out of HPD’s District Three in Pearl City and were placed on administrative leave as standard procedure.

Family members outside the house confirmed the shooting but declined to name the man.

The dead man’s youngest brother, who declined to give his name, said his brother did suffer from mental illness but that it was under control and he did not have a history of violence. The youngest brother lives in Kapolei and was not at his family’s Waipahu home during the shooting.

In addition to the brother who was shot, another brother and his parents were home at the time, he said.

The man said the brother who was shot called police for help, but officers responded with "excessive" force. They first used a Taser on his brother and then shot him five times, he said.

He said he is not sure why his brother called police.

Paramedics responding to a 3:18 a.m. call at 94-926 Hiapo St. found a man in his 40s dead of multiple gunshot wounds, according to an Emergency Medical Services report.

Neighbors said the man, who lives at the home, was shot three times.

Police would say only that multiple shots were fired.

Maj. Richard Robinson of HPD’s Criminal Investigation Division said responding officers knew that there had been a previous call to the residence in November, at which time the man who was fatally shot Saturday was voluntarily transported to the hospital. He also said a family member at the scene told responding officers that the man had a mental disorder.

"Every scene, we try to do everything we can to protect everyone’s safety," Robinson said. "This situation developed very rapidly, it’s a relatively small, enclosed space (back there), and as the chief had stated, the male was armed with a 12-foot-long steel pole with a 6-inch sharpened blade on the end of it."

Robinson said the weapon the man was using is similar to devices used to pick mangoes, but with the blade facing straight forward instead of sideways. He said determining whether the instrument was homemade is part of the ongoing investigation.

It is police procedure to respond to dropped 911 calls, Robinson said.

A criminal investigation has been opened into the man’s threats against his family member and the officers, and an administrative investigation has been opened into the shots fired, Robinson said. Which family member the man threatened is part of the investigation, he said.

The man had no prior criminal history, according to police.

Just over a year ago, a 40-year-old Waipahu man from the same neighborhood died at a hospital from multiple blunt force injuries after he fled his home following an argument with his wife and jumped off the Hiapo Street overpass.

Anthony Kaai allegedly assaulted his 23-year-old wife multiple times at their Apii Street home with a hammer before he took the fatal jump. The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s office classified his death as a suicide.

The attack occurred sometime before 11 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2012.

Paramedics took the woman to the hospital in critical condition. She was later upgraded to serious condition and survived.