UPDATE: Armed Suspect Shot By San Jose Police Dies From His Injuries
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A man was fatally shot by San Jose police after pointing a gun at officers who were conducting an investigation in a north San Jose neighborhood late Monday night.
At a morning news conference, Sgt. Christian Camarillo told reporters that two officers responded to a call in the 1100 Block of Tofts Drive in north San Jose around 9:45 p.m.
While police were investigating the initial report, they were confronted by a resident of the neighborhood. Shots were fired and the man died.
"This wasn't the random shooting where an officer approaches someone on the street. The officers were here for a very specific reason, trying to accomplish a very specific mission," Camarillo said. "The suspect that they were here investigating presented himself. There was a confrontation. There were some shots fired by one of our officers. Subsequently, the suspect was struck, and he was pronounced deceased here at the scene."
Multiple neighbors reported hearing three distinct gunshots, which some mistook for Memorial Day fireworks.
The man collapsed and died in the street, two doors from his home. Family members told KPIX 5 that police detained and questioned family members at the home. Relatives declined to comment.
"Bang-bang. Bang. In that kind of cadence. Sounded like the officer was calling it in, and he was saying 'Suspect is down,'" said neighbor Vu Tran.
"But I heard, pop-pop. Pop. I went back to ask my husband, 'Did that sound like a gunshot?'" said neighbor Michelle Tisor.
When asked if the man was armed, Camarillo told reporters -- "I'm not going to put that out yet, but once you guys have the information and see what I know, it will be really cut and dry."
Later Monday morning, police tweeted out that the suspect was armed and pointing a handgun at the officer who opened fire.
On Monday evening, police tweeted additional photos from the incident, which purportedly showed the suspect holding a handgun and pointing it at someone in a vehicle.
Camarillo said the shooting did not occur inside a home, but near a residence on the street.
"None of us come to work, thinking, 'Hey, we're going to get into a shooting today,'" said Camarillo. "It happened, and now we have to deal with the aftermath."
There was no reports of any injuries suffered by the officers. No other details about the circumstances of the shooting were immediately released.
"The evidence collection and investigation will be lengthy," police tweeted.
Police said they will release more the details on the incident in the next day or two. Camarillo said officers were at the scene for a very specific reason to accomplish a very specific mission and called it "complex."
"Any time we have an officer-involved shooting there are many layers [to the investigation]," he said.
Those layers include several branches of investigating units looking at the incident, such as the department's internal affairs and the Santa Clara County DA's office.
Members of the suspect's family on scene didn't want to talk, but Betty Ross, a resident who has been living in the neighborhood for 40 years, said she heard helicopters last night.
"I'm just glad to know the officers are probably OK and, number two, that stuff like this happens," said Ross. "We don't get shooting out in this area. We really don't."
It was the second fatal officer-involved shooting of the year in San Jose.
Police shot and killed 27-year-old David Tovar Jr. in the courtyard of an apartment complex in the city's east foothills in January.
He had been sought by authorities in connection with a homicide in Gilroy and other violent attacks in South Santa Clara County.
Justin Andrews contributed to this story.
