Suspect shot to death in Sunnyvale; fourth man killed by force in 3 years.
Questions remain as companion of dead man remains at large
SUNNYVALE — The death of a man Saturday in a police encounter is the fifth time in eight years — and the fourth in three years — that someone has died at the hands of Sunnyvale Public Safety Department officers.
On Sunday, more questions than answers remained about the latest shooting. Sunnyvale police refused to respond to calls and did not identify the victim. A companion of the dead man, whom police have not identified, remained at large after a six-hour search on Saturday. But it is unclear even of what crime he is suspected of committing.
On April 8, Officer Benjamin Kroutil fatally shot Joseph Jeremy Weber, 28, an Army veteran who was suspected of stealing a pack of cigarettes at knifepoint. He allegedly ignored the officer’s orders to drop the knife. Police radio accounts indicated that Weber was 50 feet from officers, while police said he was closer. The Public Safety Department has refused to release cellphone videos of
that incident.
In June 2014, four officers shot and killed Glen Griggs, 53, who ignored officers’ order to drop the long BB gun he was brandishing.
In August 2013, a Sunnyvale SWAT team killed Michael Nehez, 68, after he wielded a knife and charged at officers.
In December 2012, Officer Thomas Sprayberry shot and killed Jason White, 36, a transient who allegedly charged at him with a hammer.
And in September 2007, plainclothes detectives Chris Searle and Darren Pang fatally shot Jose Canas in front of his wife and twin 2-year-olds as he was leaving for work. Police used their vehicles to ram and sandwich Canas’ car and then ordered him to stop driving. Canas’s widow, Erika Canas, lost a subsequent civil suit she filed against police. Her attorney, James Roberts of San Jose, said Sunday that Sunnyvale police were negligent in shooting Canas, whom he said police mistakenly believed was a suspect in a homicide.
Investigations cleared officers in several shooting cases. Events leading to the latest fatal episode began about 4 p.m. Saturday, after a caller alerted police to two men in a black Jaguar XF sedan near a Motel 6 in the 800 block of W. Ahwanee Avenue. Arriving officers saw two men flee on foot, according to a statement put out by public safety Capt. Shawn Ahearn. Police pursued the two to a commercial complex in the 700 block of San Aleso Avenue. During the chase, one of the officers fired at least once and one of the two men was hit, police said. Also during the chase, police reported that a fully loaded, high-capacity magazine fell to the street.
A woman dining at a nearby restaurant said she witnessed the events. She said she saw police arrest one man who appeared not to be resisting. “Once they had him cuffed, he was talking to officers,” the witness, Kat Walsh, a Mountain View attorney, said. It is not clear who that man was, but Ahearn on Saturday said police detained “several other subjects.”
Their identities were not released. One man was pronounced dead at the scene. According to Ahearn, officers found a gun near his body and another in his backpack. For about six hours on Saturday, police searched in vain for his companion. During the search, the department tweeted that it was seeking “a black male adult last seen wearing a red or orange shirt with bluejeans” in the area of West Ferndale Avenue and Borregas Avenue, about four blocks east of the shooting site.
“We are definitely concerned about the fact that this happened, as well as lack of information and transparency,” said A Baldonado on Sunday. The community organizer is with the activist group San Jose Advocates for Empowerment. Referring to six officer-involved shootings in San Jose this year, she said, “This is just the latest one we’re trying to figure out.”
Anyone with information about the Saturday incident may call the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety at 408-730-7110.