New police bodycam footage shows a cop in California shooting a suspect who had just stabbed him with a knife outside a police station ... and the fatal interaction is intense.

The incident happened last month in Santa Monica, but the body cam footage is just now being released ... and it shows the suspect pull a knife out of his jacket and lunge at the cop ... right in front of the door to the Santa Monica Police Department HQ.

A scuffle ensues and the knife-wielding man tries to run away ... the cop chases after him and fires off three shots ... and the suspect goes down.

The guy gets back up, and ignores the cop's commands to get back on the ground ... and then the officer squeezes off four more shots, killing him.

SMPD says the officer was stabbed multiple times and the suspect, later identified as Deyaa Abdelhadi Halaibeh, died at the scene.

Police say Halaibeh is suspected of committing a robbery at a nearby Target store minutes before the attack at the police station ... and surveillance video shows him pushing a Target employee to the ground inside the store, before running off with a box in his hands.

Cops say Halaibeh stole a box of kitchen knives from Target ... and used an 8-inch chef's knife to stab the officer after heading from Target straight to SMPD HQ.