A 42-year-old Vallejo man was shot and killed by police early Monday after allegedly running toward an officer with what turned out to be his black metal wallet, Vallejo Police Department spokesmen said.
Lt. Ken Weaver said Anton Barrett, Sr. was shot several times by a veteran police officer, and died a few hours later at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. The shooting occurred after a brief high-speed vehicle and foot pursuit.
Weaver and later department spokesman Jeff Bassett said the incident began shortly after midnight at Santa Clara and Indiana streets where officers conducting a DUI patrol spotted a white Lexus driving without its headlights on at a high speed through various intersections. The vehicle ran both a stop sign and a red light, Bassett said.
The two officers gave chase with lights and siren until the Lexus entered an apartment complex cul de sac in the 200 block of Old Wilson Avenue, Weaver said.
The car hit a curb, flattening at least one of it tires, and stopped, Bassett said. The driver and two passengers fled on foot in different directions, with officers in pursuit. A short time later other officers, including a canine unit, arrived.
At one point, Barrett, the driver, doubled back through the apartments and was running toward an officer who had drawn his service weapon, Bassett said. Several times, the officer ordered Barrett to stop and raise his hands, but the man instead began running toward him. At that time, Barrett also reached into his hooded sweatshirt and pulled out a dark colored, metallic object that turned out to be his wallet, Bassett said.
The officer told investigators later that he thought the object was a gun, Weaver said.
"It was very dark in that breezeway, and these things happen in a split second," Bassett said.
At that point the officer fired several times, mortally wounding Barrett, although Barrett tried to get up and was Tased after the shooting officer told other officers that he had a gun.
Weaver said officers called emergency personnel to provide Barrett medical help, and he was taken by ground ambulance to John Muir, where he was pronounced dead at 5:34 a.m.
Bassett said he doesn't believe Barrett or his passengers had any connection to the apartment building. Several residents there told the Times-Herald that they heard and saw most of what transpired, but didn't know the men.
"I was watching TV when I heard the noise, and heard what sounded like pounding on my door, so I opened it, and the officer shouted, 'shut the door!," and I said, "someone knocked,' and he said, 'it wasn't us,' so, I shut the door," resident Tarrie Wagner said. "I heard the officer order the man to the ground and I heard the shots. From where I was sitting, the police did everything right, God bless 'em."
Another apartment complex resident who gave her name only as Tammy, said some people don't realize Old Wilson Avenue is now a dead-end street and think they can get through.
"They had no business being here," Tammy said. "They have no idea the kind of danger they put us in. There are children here."
Meanwhile, one of the passengers, Barrett's son, Anton Barrett, Jr., 18, of Vallejo, was booked on charges of resisting arrest after he was found by a police canine hiding in some bushes. Both Barrett and the dog's handler received minor injuries, but were treated and released before the younger Barrett was taken to jail.
The third passenger was still being sought after fleeing toward Hichborn Street.
Weaver said the Vallejo police department and Solano County District attorney's office are investigating the shooting, and the seven-year veteran officer has been placed on paid administrative leave.
He joins two other officers on paid leave following the fatal shooting late last Thursday night of a 53-year-old man who pointed a replica pellet gun at them on a downtown street after refusing to drop the weapon. That shooting also remains under investigation.
A Vallejo officer also shot and killed a Vallejo family's 11-year-old dog, Belle, after she surprised him in the family's Kentucky Street front yard at about noon on May 16.
"This is a cluster of (officer-involved shooting) incidents in a short time, but it's the only three such incidents we've had so far this year," Bassett said at a news conference
Bassett said Anton Barrett, Sr. has a criminal history dating to 1985, with five felony convictions, and was on probation for an incident in Napa at the time of his death.
One woman who identified herself as Barrett's cousin and a man who said he was a long-time friend said they never knew him to carry a gun.
"He was a hard-working man with a good job, and he had kids, and he didn't deserve to die," the cousin said.
Police urge anyone who may have seen the incident to call them, Bassett said.
"We're interested in knowing what may have compelled him to run from police," Bassett said. "Though we may never know that."
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