{"id":145855,"date":"2026-01-23T05:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/145855\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T05:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:12:15","slug":"san-jose-police-officer-recovering-after-skull-fracture-suffered-in-gunbattle-with-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/145855\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose police officer recovering after skull fracture suffered in gunbattle with suspect"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 A San Jose police sergeant was recovering\u00a0Thursday after a bullet grazed his head during a close-range gunfight Wednesday with a carjacking suspect<\/a> who later died when shot and struck by a police SUV in downtown San Jose, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Police gave the update one day after a sprawling, nearly two-hour chase that stretched from Hollister to San Jose and involved multiple law enforcement agencies. San Jose police Chief Paul Joseph said at an afternoon news conference that the sergeant, who has 13 years of service with the department, suffered a skull fracture.<\/p>\n

The sergeant was released from the hospital Thursday afternoon. Police identified him as Gerardo Silva.<\/p>\n

Joseph said that near the end of the incident, the suspect collided with a stopped vehicle near Notre Dame Avenue and West Julian Street. As Silva arrived in pursuit, the suspect got out of the car and \u201ccharged\u201d at him, Joseph said, immediately firing.<\/p>\n

The sergeant was struck in the head as he arrived, Joseph said, but still managed to get out of his vehicle and return fire with another officer. The\u00a0two circled the police vehicle, exchanging gunfire. The suspect briefly tried to enter the police vehicle, then fled on foot before he was shot and killed seconds later by approaching officers.<\/p>\n

\"ASan Jose police sergeant Gerardo Silva, center, who has been with the department for 13 years, was released from the hospital to a crowd of supporting fellow officers at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. The sergeant suffered a gunshot wound to his head during a shootout with a man suspected in a robbery and carjacking spree over the past week. (Dai Sugano\/ Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n Silva was initially listed in critical condition and was rushed to a hospital by other officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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. \u2026 Under fire, wounded and under extreme stress, his training and resolve kicked in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Slack, president of the San Jose Police Officers\u2019 Association, said in a statement that officers displayed \u201cincredible bravery\u201d as they ran toward gunfire and\u00a0\u201cultimately eliminated the threat.\u201d He said the injured sergeant remained in good spirits and that the union was supporting him and his family.<\/p>\n

San Jose Vice Mayor Pam Foley said she could not imagine \u201cthe courage it takes to run toward a situation like that and not away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo our sergeant who is recovering, we thank you for your dedication and commitment to protecting our residents, and we pray to you have a speedy recovery,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

City Manager Jennifer Maguire said she visited the sergeant Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sergeant was in very good spirits and extraordinarily positive, given the tragic situation,\u201d Maguire said. \u201cHowever, I\u2019m not surprised by this, as his colleagues could not say enough about him and the impact he has made on this community,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of all, I\u2019m thankful that our sergeant survived an unimaginable injury,\u201d Joseph said.<\/p>\n

Staff writer Jason Green contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 A San Jose police sergeant was recovering\u00a0Thursday after a bullet grazed his head during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145856,"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-145855","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\/145855","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=145855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}