Man held in shootout with San Jose police
San Jose police exchanged gunfire with a man in one of the city’s eastern neighborhoods Sunday morning before chasing and arresting him, officials say.
No one was injured in the tense exchange that startled neighbors in a nearby mobile home park. The incident unfolded around 8 a.m. when police responded to a report of a suspicious person armed with a handgun. The man, whose name has not been released, was believed to be casing the Big 5 Sporting Goods store on Tully Road, San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia said Sunday night.
Police said that when officers got to the scene, the man opened fire on them with a stolen .45-caliber pistol, prompting one of the officers to return fire. The pistol had been reported stolen in a 2013 burglary, Garcia said.
The gunman then took off running and jumped a fence into a nearby mobile home park, police said. Officers found the man and arrested him without incident moments later. The pistol was found near the fence.
“The actions of this suspect were appalling, and the continued violence toward law enforcement officers is equally appalling,” Garcia said. “We are very lucky we didn’t lose an officer today.”
The man was booked in the Santa Clara County Jail on three counts of attempted murder of a police officer and one count of having a stolen handgun, police said.
The man has previously been charged for narcotics, assault and robbery, and he has a history of mental illness, police said. He is believed to have been homeless and living in the neighborhood, Garcia said.
The officer who returned fire, a 16-year department veteran, was placed on routine paid administrative leave. The Santa Clara County district attorney and San Jose police detectives plan to look into the circumstances of the incident.
The shooting comes after two deadly officer-involved shootings in San Jose last week. On Tuesday, San Jose police shot and killed 28-year-old Joseph Tourino, who they said charged them with kitchen knives as they were responding to a domestic dispute.
Then on Thursday, San Jose police shot and killed a 24-year-old armed man who they said had shot and killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents inside a home in the city’s upscale Willow Glen neighborhood.