Suspect in San Jose police shooting had extensive criminal history, wanted on felony warrant

The San Jose Police Department provided a timeline on Wednesday on the police shooting Tuesday evening south of downtown that left a suspect dead and an officer critically injured.

The shooting happened in the area of Goodyear Street and Lick Avenue in the city's Goodyear-Mastic neighborhood after officers spotted a vehicle driven by an armed robbery suspect. Police said the suspect led officers on a short pursuit before ditching the vehicle and entering an occupied home.

Officers arrived and found the suspect who opened fire on them, police said. Officers returned fire and killed the suspect.

The officer who was hit was listed in critical condition, and police later said the officer was stable. The family inside the home was not injured, police said.

On Wednesday San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph said the suspect was wanted in two separate armed robberies and was driving a Chevrolet Tahoe that was stolen on August 16 from a home on Copperfield Road south of Communication Hill. Joseph said the suspect swapped out the vehicle's license plates several times during his subsequent crime spree.

On Saturday, the suspect was armed with a long gun when he robbed a person who had withdrawn money from an ATM in the parking lot of a bank on W. Capitol Expressway just blocks from where the Tahoe was stolen, Paul said, adding that the stolen plate and vehicle were captured by the city's automated license plate reader network.

On Sunday, Joseph said the same suspect robbed another person at the Plant Shopping Center on Curtner Avenue east of Highway 87, approaching a victim in the parking lot, demanding their possessions at gunpoint, and fleeing in the stolen Tahoe. 

Investigators obtained hits of the vehicle from the ALPR network and public safety cameras, and located on Tuesday it in the area of San Jose Avenue and Almaden Road. Paul said after surveilling the vehicle and observing the suspect returning to it, investigators identified the suspect as Anthony Chavez of Campbell, who had a felony arrest warrant and extensive criminal history.

"At this point, detectives were not simply dealing with a suspect in a stolen vehicle, they were dealing with a wanted person with an extensive history of violence who was believed to be responsible for multiple armed robberies," said Joseph. 

At about 5:43 p.m. on Tuesday, a SWAT unit attempted to block the Tahoe in the area on San Jose Avenue and Pomona Avenue but the Tahoe evaded the officers and fled at a high speed through city streets, hitting multiple vehicles, Paul said. Chavez was tracked by a police helicopter after evading officers, and at about 5:48 p.m., the Tahoe crashed in the area of Goodyear Street and Lick Avenue. Chavez was then seen retrieving items from the back of the Tahoe and fleeing on foot, and ultimately entering a family's home in his bid to escape officers, Paul said.

"This created an immediate and extremely dangerous situation. Officers knew an armed violent suspect who had just committed multiple armed robberies, fled from police, crashed a stolen vehicle, entered an unrelated family's home and could be taking hostages," Paul said.

This is a breaking news update. More information to be added as available.