San Jose police shoot, wound man they say had gun
From MercuryNews.com
Quote:
SAN JOSE, Calif.—A San Jose man who authorities say threatened police with a gun was hospitalized Sunday after the city's seventh officer-involved shooting of the year.
San Jose police Sgt. Jason Dwyer said the man, whose name has not released, was shot after police received a call Sunday morning about a man at a hotel who was described as a "suspicious person with a weapon."
When officers arrived at the Extended Stay Hotel they found a man who appeared to be passed out or sleeping in an exterior stairwell, Dwyer said.
When the man made a "threatening gesture" with a weapon at least one officer opened fire, hitting the man several times, Dwyer said.
The condition of the man was not known, but he was expected to survive.
Dwyer would not say whether a gun was recovered from the man, saying investigators would not be providing additional information about the incident until Sunday evening.
The names of the officers involved have not been released, but all have been put on routine administrative leave while the incident is investigated, Dwyer said.
Japanese businessman Aki Furta, a guest at the hotel, told the San Jose Mercury News that he was awakened by separate noises early Sunday.
The first was "a man yelling very loud," he told the newspaper.
"It lasted for maybe two minutes, yelling and yelling."
Then, Furta said, "I heard what sounded like seven or eight gunshots, very fast, like a machine-gun. It was very scary."
An employee who answered the phone at the hotel declined to comment.
The shooting Sunday comes after a suspect wanted in the deaths of two former San Jose State University students was shot and killed by San Jose police officers on Oct. 10.
Ricardo Moreno was shot after police received a call about a shirtless man waving a handgun as he wandered on a street. Police shot Moreno after he threatened them with the gun, which they later learned was not loaded, police Lt. Alan Cavallo said.
Police later tied Moreno to the execution-style slayings of ex-students Eric Kenzo Otokawa and Kristina Lynn Pandula two days earlier, Cavallo said.
Of the seven officer-involved shootings in San Jose this year, three of have been fatal.
"This incident and other recent incidents underscore the dangers of police work," Dwyer said.
"There's no identifiable pattern, except an increase in violence against police and that's very troubling for us," he said.
