San Jose police released Monday body camera video from a deadly shootout that occurred at the end of a car chase that spanned two counties.
The January 21 incident left a police sergeant wounded and the suspect dead.
Footage from the officer body camera shows San Jose police Sgt. Gerado Silva exiting his patrol car to confront a suspect when he was shot on the hand.
The sergeant continues his gunfight with Mohamed Husien, a man who police said had just been on a four-day crime spree that included several armed robberies, at least one carjacking and a gunfight with another police agency.
Video then shows Silva is hit again, this time in the head, but continued to fight. The footage also shows officers rushing to the sergeant’s aid.
As more officers arrive on scene, more gunfire is caught on multiple body worn cameras.
In the end, officers unleashed a barrage of bullets on the suspect, firing before and after a police cruiser ran him over.
“It looked like a Hollywood movie, but it happened on the streets of San Jose,” legal analyst Steven Clark said. “Hollywood movies are scripted. What happened was very unscripted and chaotic.”
Clark is among those watching the video released by police. There are several routine investigations underway for the shooting by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, internal affairs and the independent police auditor.
San Jose police and city officials gathered Thursday to address a deadly pursuit and shootout with a carjacking suspect.
Clark, a former prosecutor, said he sees nothing criminal by the officers that day, including the decision to keep shooting after he is hit by a patrol cruiser.
“Sure you can second guess implementation of deadly force,” Clark said. “But I don’t see anything to cause the DA to say we need to pursue criminal charges against any particular officer.”
Mike Leininger, who spent almost three decades with San Jose police, noted no civilians were struck by the hail of gunfire as what stood out to him from the tactical response from officers.
“I actually became somewhat emotional watching it,” Leininger said of the body camera video. “It was an event every police officer fears will come.”
Leininger also noted officers had the presence of mind to react in the midst of chaos.
Leininger was released from the hospital a day after the shooting.
Many are now calling for the police chief to award him the medal of valor.