Police affirm that the man who was shot had taken someone’s gun away during fight; man’s lawyer says he was a hero who was trying to get to safety when he encountered officers.
San Jose police Chief Anthony Mata said Tuesday that the man shot and wounded by police after emerging from a weekend brawl — holding afrom another person — refused orders to drop the weapon and that it was impossible in the moment for officers to know the man’s intent.
Mata said security footage of the brawl, which involved at least a half-dozen people, showed the man who was shot taking a handgun away from another person, and affirmed that the wounded man did not bring the gun to the restaurant. But the chief argued that in the chaos, there was no way for officers to know the gun’s origins when they saw the man with the weapon just a few feet away.
“My client was a hero. He was attacked, this wasn’t a mutual combat thing,” Pointer said. “My client was at a restaurant minding his business, and someone threatened him and the people he was with. Witnesses told us he was in there begging and pleading with the attackers to calm down and telling him he wasn’t there to have any problems, and wanted to go home.
In a video recorded by a witness no more than 10 yards away, five officers coming from a nearby police cordon can be seen walking up the steps leading to the restaurant with guns drawn, including one officer 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.
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