{"id":145519,"date":"2026-01-23T01:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/145519\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T01:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:07:08","slug":"san-jose-police-detail-frantic-downtown-shootout-that-wounded-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/145519\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose police detail frantic downtown shootout that wounded officer"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 Authorities on Thursday backed police actions in a chaotic downtown gunfight that left a San Jose police<\/a> sergeant wounded<\/a> and a suspect dead \u2014 including after the man was struck by a police SUV \u2014 as investigators began reviewing a confrontation captured in multiple eyewitness videos and involving at least nine officers who used deadly force.<\/p>\n

The dramatic sequence unfolded Wednesday afternoon near Notre Dame Avenue and West Julian Street, in the shadow of Highway 87, and drew widespread attention after videos circulated showing the suspect on the ground and being struck by a trailing police vehicle as gunshots rang out.<\/p>\n

San Jose police Chief Paul Joseph said the suspect, identified as 30-year-old Mohamed Husien of Davis, posed an immediate and deadly threat after a four-day crime spree that included armed robberies, carjackings and multiple exchanges of gunfire with law enforcement across Northern California.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing is consistent with this kind of violence: He was always destined to meet a police officer somewhere,\u201d Joseph said at a Thursday news conference. \u201cYesterday we came dangerously close to paying the ultimate cost \u2026 I know I could easily stand here today delivering very different news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both the police department and the officer union said the injured sergeant is \u201cdoing well\u201d and in \u201cgood spirits.\u201d Joseph confirmed the injured sergeant, a recently promoted 13-year department veteran, underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture caused by a bullet graze. He was released from the hospital Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully he will survive his injuries. This was a scene none of us ever want to witness in real life,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of footage people might expect from an action movie. But this was not a movie. It was a battle for that sergeant\u2019s life, unfolding in the middle of our city, in broad daylight, with members of the public in the crossfire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph said the sergeant was shot after Husien, having crashed the second car he reportedly carjacked Wednesday, rushed at the officer\u2019s police SUV and opened fire as the sergeant got out of the vehicle and returned fire while the two men stood just several feet apart. The chief said the sergeant, while \u201cbleeding from the head,\u201d fended off the attack as he and the suspect circled the SUV.<\/p>\n

At some point, as shown in eyewitness video obtained by Bay Area News Group, Husien is seen briefly entering the police vehicle before getting out and running west toward the Highway 87 underpass. Gunshots can be heard as the man falls to the ground. Seconds later, another officer in a separate police SUV drove into the suspect, striking him as he lay on the pavement. Husien was later pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n

In all, more than two dozen gunshots could be heard in at least three separate volleys \u2014 during the initial exchange with the sergeant, as the suspect tried to flee and after he fell to the ground. Investigators said nine officers were identified as having used deadly force, either by shooting at Husien or driving over him with a police vehicle.<\/p>\n

Joseph said Husien was still moving and holding his gun, which was loaded with an extended magazine, when the officer drove into him. When asked about the necessity of that tactic, the chief declined to comment on whether it complied with department policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t get into the specifics of that, but what I will tell you is this: Nothing about a deadly force encounter is pretty, and at that point you have an incredibly dangerous situation with a dangerous individual,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cThat individual needs to be stopped, and whatever means the officers needed to use to stop that individual \u2026 these things will be judged by the district attorney and by this department to make sure that they are complying with the law and the policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cLet\u2019s not lose sight of the fact of what we\u2019re dealing with here. We\u2019re dealing with somebody who\u2019s fired at multiple police officers, who shot one of our sergeants in the head, who carjacked a person at a dealership in San Jose to get the green Corvette, carjacked someone at gunpoint in Hollister, a passing motorist, to escape after the first officer-involved shooting and clearly didn\u2019t show any signs of surrendering peacefully, and needed to be stopped for the safety of the officers involved and our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities said Husien was wanted in connection with the theft of a red Chevrolet Corvette in Sacramento on Jan. 17 and two store robberies that same day, including one in San Jose. The next day, he was linked to a robbery on the Peninsula and another robbery on Coleman Road in San Jose.<\/p>\n

Earlier Wednesday, San Jose police spotted the reported stolen Corvette through the department\u2019s Real-Time Intelligence Center and briefly pursued it but lost track of it. They later found it abandoned.<\/p>\n

Husien came back on police radar around 2 p.m. Wednesday when he was reported to have carjacked at gunpoint a green Corvette from a Chevrolet dealership on Capitol Expressway and was tracked by a police helicopter to Hollister. Around 2:55 p.m., he got into a shootout with Hollister police after officers spotted the vehicle near Central Avenue and Miller Road and pursued it until it broke down near Buena Vista Road and Westside Boulevard. No one was hit.<\/p>\n

San Benito County sheriff\u2019s deputies caught up with Husien near Buena Vista Road and Line Street, and they exchanged gunfire, again with no injuries. Authorities said Husien then carjacked another vehicle at gunpoint and fled north toward San Jose.<\/p>\n

On Highway 101, the suspect allegedly fired at California Highway Patrol officers who had joined the pursuit. The chase continued onto highways 85 and 87 before the suspect exited in Willow Glen and drove to the final shooting site downtown, with officers from San Jose police, the CHP and the Santa Clara County Sheriff\u2019s Office in pursuit.<\/p>\n

During the news conference, Joseph was asked about the suspect\u2019s possible tactical experience, given how Husien was seen charging at and circling the wounded sergeant.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only didn\u2019t he back away from us or try to escape, he (was aggressive) on our officer and was intent on having a gunbattle,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cI don\u2019t know where he learned those tactics \u2026 I can only comment on what I observed, which was a very violent and aggressive person who had no problem with confronting law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shooting site remained closed Thursday as investigators continued examining the scene, with several vehicles still within the perimeter. Nearby, Andy, a resident who asked to withhold his last name for privacy, said he watched from his terrace as \u201ca melee of cops\u201d arrived with heavy weapons, followed by the sight of a body on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not the sort of thing I expected to see here,\u201d he said. \u201cNo matter what the circumstances are, it\u2019s still really sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff writer Jason Green contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 Authorities on Thursday backed police actions in a chaotic downtown gunfight that left a San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[27058,72511,818,2322,236,609,88,90,89,135,5569,2131,411],"class_list":["post-145519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-carjacking","tag-crime-spree","tag-downtown","tag-officer","tag-police","tag-police-shooting","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-shooting","tag-sjpd","tag-suspect","tag-wounded"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}