SAN JOSE — A man shot and wounded by a police officer at a downtown restaurant early Sunday had actually disarmed a gunman during a fight inside, and was holding the weapon and backing out the front door when he was immediately confronted by officers followed by gunfire seconds later, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
The wounded man — whose name has not been publicly released and is being treated at a local hospital — was initially described in police statements on Twitter as “a suspect” who was “pointing a handgun at another involved subject,” but sources told this news organization that accounts of the shooting that have since surfaced strongly suggest that he was trying to keep the fight from becoming deadly.
The owner of the restaurant said he also heard similar accounts.
When asked about the circumstances of the wounded man, San Jose police declined to comment and stated that a Wednesday news conference has been scheduled to address the shooting.
The police shooting occurred at about 3:10 a.m. Sunday at the La Victoria restaurant near San Carlos and Fourth Street, near the western border of San Jose State University. According to police, officers who were working the scene of a fatal shooting, which occurred about a half-hour earlier on the same block, rushed over after seeing people fleeing the eatery, several of whom told officers that someone was inside with a gun.
In a witness video recorded from no more than 10 yards away, five officers can be seen walking up the steps leading to the restaurant with guns drawn, including one near the rear holding a rifle. Soon after, a man dressed in a black shirt opens the restaurant’s door with his back turned toward the officers, slightly crouched in a way that suggested he was surprised by the sight of police officers.
As the man starts to turn around to face them, one of the officers fired what sounds like three to four shots. At least one order that sounds like “Drop the gun” can be faintly heard on the video during the encounter that lasts about four seconds.
The shooting was preceded by a fight that broke inside involving about a half-dozen people split between two groups, said Nicandro Barrita, who owns the La Victoria restaurant chain. He said his employees relayed to him that the man who was shot was a customer.
During the brawl, Barrita said someone said they saw a gun, and most of the restaurant cleared out, patrons and employees alike.
“Nobody was left in there,” he said.
But sources familiar with the investigation told this news organization that at least two people were left inside, the man seen with the gun and another man wresting it away from him. Soon after, sources say, the man now holding the gun walked out of the eatery and was shot.
Barrita said he has heard accounts that the man wounded by police was trying to defuse the clash, but declined to offer any affirmation either way, saying that police investigators have been provided footage from the nearly two-dozen cameras he has installed at the restaurant.
“It’s up to the police to find out in their investigation,” he said.
There was no immediate indication from police that anyone else — including the suspected gunman — was arrested after the shooting. No other injuries were reported from the fight, and the restaurant re-opened Sunday, Barrita said.
He added that the violence that erupted early Sunday was uncharacteristic for the site.
“Overall, this area has been getting much better since COVID and then this happens,” Barrita said. “We haven’t had a fight in a long time. There was a lot going on Saturday with the Sharks game, it was a lot of people. It was an isolated incident.”
Staff writer Jakob Rodgers contributed to this report.
Source: www.mercurynews.com