Officer fatally shoots man wielding ax
Suspect, 35, who had in past been committed to mental institutions, threatened police with weapon, chief says
SAN JOSE — A San Jose police officer shot and killed a man early Sunday — the fourth officer-involved shooting this month and sixth of the year — while responding to a report of a disturbance involving a tenant at a downtown apartment complex.
Officers were called to Donner Lofts at 12:35 a.m., but when they arrived the suspect refused to open the door. Then officers saw that someone had set fire to the other side of the door in an apparent bid to make the police go away, said San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia.
“The officers observed flames and smoke coming from under the front door,” Garcia said. “Fearing for the safety of the occupants, officers forced open the front door.”
One of the two men inside quickly surrendered to officers and was taken into custody. But the other man refused to cooperate and had armed himself with an ax.
“The suspect initially dis-
carded the ax, but then did not comply with the officers’ commands,” Garcia said.
Officers then used a Taser on him but it had no effect.
“The suspect then rearmed himself with the ax, and it was not until he threatened the officers with the ax and began advancing on the officers that the officer was given no other choice but to discharge his firearm,” Garcia said.
The 35-year-old man was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital. His name is being held pending notification of next of kin. Garcia said he had numerous priors involving violence, weapons and drugs and had been committed to mental institutions in the past.
“This is tragic for the suspect and the suspect’s family,” Garcia said. “But what is often lost in these cases is the impact on the officers, who seem to have the deck stacked against them in these types of incidents.”
Four of this year’s officer-involved shootings were fatal. Garcia said all six of this year’s shootings involved a person with mental health issues. Last year, there were four officer-involved shootings and two were fatal.
Garcia said the officer who fired the shots had gone through the department’s Crisis Intervention Training program aimed at defusing standoffs with someone with mental issues.
“Some of these situations are impossible,” Garcia said. “It’s very difficult to defuse a situation when an individual is armed with an ax . ... There are hundreds of other times when these skills defuse the situation but it doesn’t always work.”
He said the ax was more of a weapon in appearance than a household tool, with tape wrapped around parts of it.
“There was no mistaking this for anything other than an ax,” he said.
Nina Russell, who lives at the apartments at 158 E. St. John St., said she heard two bursts of gunfire, each with about four shots, after a loud argument and a man “screaming for help.”
“I turned the TV off — I didn’t need it for entertainment with all the Saturday night madness going on,” Russell said.
Stan Willis, who knows a man who lives in the apartment where the shooting occurred, said he was awakened by police “pounding on doors” and telling people to stay inside. He later saw the tenant’s door with scorch marks at the base.
Residents said the lowincome 102-unit apartment facility has a number of transitional units for previously homeless people, and there’s a lot of traffic in and out of the building.
Tracy Nikitas said the shooting followed an altercation earlier in the evening in which another female resident was assaulted.
“I got home and elevator doors open on the second floor and there was blood in the hall,” said Nikitas, who lives in the lofts with her 17year-old son.
“I’m not sure, there were a couple incidents last night, not sure if it’s the same . ... This place needs to be cleaned up a little bit. There’s a lot of riffraff and the city of San Jose and the police officers need to know that.”
She said she wasn’t surprised that an officer-involved shooting happened.
“It’s that type of environment,” she said.
No officers were injured in the shooting.
The officer, who has been on the force for two years, will be placed on routine paid administrative leave while the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office and homicide detectives investigate the legality of the shooting.
The case also will be monitored by the San Jose Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit, the San Jose City Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Independent Police Auditor.
This is the most officerinvolved shootings since 2015, when there were 12, at least a 10-year high, including six fatal.
San Jose police are asking anyone with information about the case to contact Detective Sgt. Mike Montonye or Detective Jason Tanner of the homicide unit at 408-277-5283.