Officials: Man killed 2, shot at officers
Raymond Calderon also allegedly pistol-whipped his grandmother before being shot by police
SAN JOSE >> A man fatally shot by police last week had his terrified grandmother and two of his children riding with him when he gunned down a man in East San Jose, then traveled to Modesto and fatally shot the mother of his infant child, authorities said.
At a news conference on June 24, San Jose police offered new details in the case of Raymond Joseph Calderon, a 30-year-old San Jose resident who died on June 22 after a standoff at a South San Jose home.
After making his grandmother and children sit helplessly by as he killed two people, Calderon reportedly pistol-whipped his grandmother before leaving the group behind and later getting into a lengthy confrontation with police.
“This just goes to speak to not only how ruthless and violent this individual was,” Capt. Jason Dwyer said, “but the extreme indifference to lives he may affect years from now.”
The reported rampage, described in a series of witness and police accounts stretching between San Jose and the Central Valley, began the afternoon of June 21 when Calderon was arguing with the mother of two of his children on the phone. During that phone call, Calderon reportedly threatened to kill his grandmother and made comments about killing himself.
San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata said the argument prompted a 911 call and police response because of the remarks and because Calderon was violating a peaceful contact order by not returning the children to their mother as agreed upon.
After the initial call, while driving a red pickup truck the evening of June 21 with his grandmother and the two elementary-aged children riding inside, Calderon stopped near Mount Shasta and Mount Vista drives and shot a man — who was described as his friend — in front of a home around 7 p.m., police said. It was unclear what led up to the shooting, but residents on the street recognized Calderon and identified him to police, Mata said.
Calderon later drove to Modesto and within about two hours arrived at a home on
Ramsey Drive in that city.
Once there, Calderon called the phone of 29-year-old Michelle Rose Gonzales, with whom he has a 6-month-old son. Once she came outside, Calderon shot her, then drove away soon after, Gonzales' mother, Annette Meras, told The Modesto Bee.
Meras told The Bee that her daughter and Calderon had been dating on and off for about three years and that she never got any indication that Calderon was capable of serious violence.
Court records, however, show that Calderon had more than half a dozen domestic violence charges and convictions in Santa Clara County dating to 2018. The related crimes include assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats, violating a domestic violence restraining order and evading police.
After the shooting in Modesto, Calderon was again quickly identified as the gunman. San Jose police, aided by a police helicopter, spotted Calderon's truck driving on Highway 101 in South San Jose. They tracked him as he drove to Gilroy, where he dropped off his grandmother and the two children.
As he returned to San Jose, the California Highway Patrol initiated a chase, which was taken over by city police in South San Jose.
Calderon exited his stillmoving truck near Bendorf and Roundtable drives, then got out and ran into the neighborhood, shooting at officers who were chasing him on foot. A resident told the Bay Area News Group that Calderon was jumping over fences and knocking on windows before he settled in a backyard shed on Bendorf Drive.
Calderon holed up for nearly seven hours as police tried to get him to surrender by communicating with him on the phone and by loudspeaker. At one point, police said, he shot in the direction of officers once more.
Around 7 a.m. on June 22, special operations officers lobbed tear gas into the shed. Police say Calderon emerged and charged the officers' position with gun in hand, which was corroborated by police-recorded video excerpts shown at an June 24 news conference.
Police and witnesses said two officers in an armored vehicle each fired one shot at Calderon with their rifles when he pointed his handgun at them. Calderon died at a local hospital.
“Calderon senselessly killed two people and when finally confronted by the San Jose Police Department, in a highly populated neighborhood, he opened fire on them in a lastditch effort to escape,” Mata said. “Our officers acted with tremendous bravery.”
One of the officers who shot Calderon is a 27-year police veteran, and the second has six years with the department. Both were placed on paid administrative leave as a formal shooting investigation by San Jose police and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office is launched.
Mata said Calderon's grandmother suffered two black eyes from his assault.
Police also determined Calderon was carrying two stolen guns, as well as illegal high-capacity magazines.
The incident marked the third shooting this year by a San Jose police officer; two have been fatal. The man killed in the shooting on Mount Shasta Drive was not immediately identified. That death marked the 17th homicide investigated by San Jose police this year.