Police say man killed had fake gun

A Pleasanton man shot dead by police at his home over the weekend was “acting erratically” and advanced on officers with a replica handgun while his wife and daughter barricaded themselves inside, officials said Monday.

The man was identified as 58-year-old Shannon Edward Estill.

The Pleasanton officer who fired the fatal shots was identified as Keith Batt, a 17-year-veteran and former Oakland police officer whose whistle-blowing in 2000 exposed four allegedly corrupt officers known as “the Riders.” The Oakland force remains under court monitoring because of the case.

The episode began after 11:30 a.m. Saturday when police got a 911 call from Estill’s wife. She told dispatchers her husband was “acting erratically,” and she and her daughter locked themselves in an upstairs bedroom of the Burgundy Drive home out of fear, officials said. Estill, she told police, was in the home’s garage, where there were guns.

When officers got to the house, they inched toward a side gate and shouted at Estill to come out. When they didn’t get a response, the officers opened a side door to the garage, where they “heard what sounded like a round being chambered in a shotgun,” police officials said in a statement. One of the officers then spotted a shotgun barrel pointed at him, officials said.

The officers immediately pulled back. But moments later, police said, Estill opened the garage door and advanced on officers while pointing a replica handgun at them. The officers yelled at Estill to drop his weapon, but he did not, prompting Batt to open fire, officials said.

Estill was pronounced dead at the scene. The wife and daughter were unhurt.

“I extend my sympathy to the Estill family as any loss of life is tragic,” Pleasanton Police Chief Dave Spiller said in a statement. “I would also like to extend my support to our involved officers, their families and the members of the Pleasanton Police Department.”

The Alameda County district attorney’s office will conduct an independent investigation into the shooting.