Chief describes ‘chaotic’ scene of stabbing — police kill the attacker

SAN JOSE » A man with a knife chased, stabbed and kicked another man to death during a violent melee over the weekend, as witnesses tried to stop the attacker with their cars, before police officers arrived and eventually shot and killed him, authorities said.

San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia said Monday that “chaotic doesn’t begin to describe” the downtown encounter early Sunday, adding that the stabbing suspect withstood four less-lethal beanbag rounds fired at him before he advanced on an officer, prompting the officer and two others to open fire.

The names of the stabbing victim and the suspect, who both died at the scene, have not been publicly released pending their formal identification and notification of their next of kin by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office. Police said there was no immediate evidence establishing a motive or any connection between the two.

Garcia said that officers were continually backing away from the suspect during the incident, seeking to deescalate, but that the immediacy of the stabbing and the man’s refusal to drop his knife and surrender prompted the shooting. He said officers and witnesses described the man as having a “thousand-yard stare” as a car pushed into him and as he absorbed the impact of the stun rounds.

“This murderer, which is what he is and what he was, dictated the outcome of this event,” Garcia said. “These officers were called, and they answered.”

The officers were responding to multiple 911 calls around 8:15 a.m. Sunday reporting an active stabbing in the middle of West Julian and North Autumn streets north of the SAP Center about a block from the Guadalupe River Trail.

“A witness was actually ramming the suspect with a pickup truck,” Garcia said, adding that by the time officers arrived, the suspect was partially blocked from leaving by three vehicles. “We should have deep gratitude to these witnesses who put their lives on the line to assist us.”

The officers helped clear the witnesses from the scene; the next few moments were a seesaw of officers ordering the man to drop his knife and the use of the beanbag rounds. A couple of rounds struck him, bringing him to a knee, but did not stop him from moving toward officers.

Garcia said the man had “fixated” on one officer and was “beginning to increase his speed” when three officers shot the suspect multiple times with their handguns.

No officers were injured. Garcia said the stabbing suspect had a criminal history that included instances of assault with a deadly weapon and multiple drug crimes. He said the man was both on probation for an assault with a deadly weapon conviction, and wanted on a felony warrant for the same offense.

The officers who fired their handguns had 19 years, six years and eight months of service with SJPD, respectively, and were placed on routine paid administrative leave.

The SJPD homicide unit and Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office launched an investigation, which is routine after an officer-involved shooting in the county. That protocol also enlists the SJPD internal

affairs unit, the San Jose City Attorney’s Office and the city’s Office of the Independent Police Auditor to monitor the investigation.

The incident marked San Jose’s third officer-involved shooting of the year and its first fatal incident. It also was the city’s second officer-involved shooting of the weekend, after a brief police chase Friday night in East San Jose led to an officer firing at an armed suspect, who was not hit.

In that incident, officers with the Violent Crimes Enforcement Team were conducting gang enforcement near East San Antonio Street and King Road when they tried to stop a vehicle with two men inside. The vehicle fled.

Officers later made contact with the two men, believed to be gang members who were in a rival neighborhood wearing their rivals’ colors, arousing the suspicion that they were looking to cause confusion before committing a gang attack.

As officers caught up with one man, he reportedly took off running and at some point reached into

his waistband and pulled out a handgun, Garcia said. That prompted an officer to fire one round at the man, which missed, but the man was soon arrested.

That suspect, 27-yearold San Jose resident Cristoban Martinez Lima, was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of weapons crimes. Officers recovered a .45-caliber pistol at the scene.

The officer who opened fire in that incident, a 12year veteran, was similarly placed on paid administrative leave and an officer-involved shooting investigation was initiated.

Garcia said the violent encounters were examples of his officers’ continuing aggressive work in the face of COVID-19 infection risks. To date, five employees with SJPD have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, including one patrol officer. A reserve officer was reported as the department’s first confirmed infection.

“You think they’re thinking about COVID?” Garcia asked. “They’re thinking about keeping this city safe.”