Video: Calif. Police Fatally Shoots Knife-Wielding Man in Standoff

By Michael Cabanatuan

Source San Francisco Chronicle

Pleasanton police released a video Thursday showing officers fatally shooting a suspect in a domestic violence case after he emerged from his apartment armed with a knife.

Pleasanton police killed Cody Chavez, 31, of San Jose on Feb. 17 after a standoff in which they said he refused orders to safely surrender and instead barricaded himself inside an apartment only to suddenly emerge with a knife in his hand.

The incident is under investigation by the Alameda County District Attorney's office and Pleasanton police, who are conducting separate probes.

The video released Thursday is not raw footage. It was edited and assembled by police and includes explanatory information as well as video and audio recordings from multiple sources. The video outlines the incident, including the shooting, as it unfolded.

The eight-minute video appears to back up the police account, released at a press conference shortly after the shooting, that Chavez was shot after emerging from an apartment with a knife.

Police responded to an apartment at 4899 Willow Road in Pleasanton and found Chavez inside the apartment of a woman who had called police. According to the 9-1-1 audio, she said that Chavez had covered her face with a pillow, pushed her, pulled her hair and wouldn't let her leave the room during the early morning. She eventually fled the apartment and called 9-1-1, telling dispatchers Chavez was still inside but had threatened to leave through a window.

Police went to the apartment and ordered Chavez to come out but received no response. They said they could see him through a window, however, and had intermittent communication with Chavez. After knocking down the front door, which is shown on the video, they said Chavez repeatedly opened and closed it then barricaded himself inside. A robot is seen trying to push open the door.

Police then broke a window in an effort to give a drone a clear view of the inside. As they broke the glass and tangled with the blinds, Chavez left the apartment through the front door — and was almost immediately shot as he turned toward officers.

A closeup of the video shows what police described as a kitchen knife with a 7-inch blade in Chavez's right hand. The video stated that two officers fired non-lethal weapons at Chavez as he walked out, then two officers in other locations fired their service weapons.

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