SAN JOSE — Police shot and wounded a man who residents of an East San Jose apartment complex said was wantonly firing a gun Sunday afternoon before getting into a running gunfight with officers, authorities said.
The man, identified as 41-year-old San Jose resident Ricardo Villareal, was hospitalized with what were described as life-threatening injuries. He was listed in critical condition Monday morning, according to the San Jose Police Department.
Acting Police Chief Paul Joseph said at a Monday afternoon news conference that Villareal was seen firing a handgun out of a van — and at one point waving it menacingly at a resident — around 4:10 p.m. Sunday at a complex on Kollmar Drive, which is near Story Road and East Capitol Expressway.
“The potential for a mass tragedy last night was immense. This apartment complex was filled with people enjoying a warm, sunny evening, families, friends and children are safe one minute and the next in grave danger,” Joseph said, adding that the officers’ “actions demonstrate the very essence of courage and sacrifice.”
Mayor Matt Mahan lauded the officers, whose actions, he said, “kept an entire apartment complex safe.”
Two SJPD officers were the first responders to the location, and did not initially hear gunfire when they arrived. But as they spotted a gray minivan in a back parking lot and alley, Joseph said, Villareal stepped out of the vehicle’s driver seat and fired several shots toward them.
Security footage recorded at the complex, and played at the news conference, appears to corroborate Joseph’s account, though the officers are off camera.
The two officers fired back at Villareal, who took off running into the apartment complex, and fired several more shots, Joseph said. The chief added that soon after, Villareal was confronted by another group of officers, and that he advanced toward one while pointing his handgun. That prompted another officer to open fire and hit Villareal, subduing him.
The first two officers who shot at Villareal had three-and-a-half years and four years with the police department, Joseph said. The third officer who fired the final shots at Villareal has been with SJPD for four-and-a-half years. All three were placed on paid administrative leave and a shooting investigation was launched by the SJPD homicide unit and Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, with monitoring from police internal affairs, the city attorney’s office and the city’s independent police auditor, all of which are protocol after a police shooting in San Jose.
Joseph said officers recovered the gun Villareal allegedly used, a Taurus G3c 9mm compact pistol that had no California registration, at the shooting site.
Police said Villareal was prohibited from possessing firearms due to his felony criminal history, which included a 10-year prison stint for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, auto theft and illegally having a sawed-off shotgun. He was on felony probation for an unrelated crime at the time of Sunday’s shooting.
Villareal reportedly interacted with several residents while at the apartment complex, where he is not a resident, Joseph said. When asked if Villareal was aiming at anyone or anything in particular prior to the arrival of police, the chief said the answer remains unclear and is a subject of the investigation.
The police shooting marks the second of the month in the city. On May 2, two officers responding to a domestic violence call were wounded in a close-quarters shootout at a South San Jose hotel. The suspect, 33-year-old San Jose resident Kevin Briones, reportedly shot the officers in a third-floor hallway at the Extended Stay America hotel on San Ignacio Avenue in South San Jose.
Briones, who was charged with attempted murder, was wounded by return fire and suffered additional injuries when he jumped through a window and fell three stories to the ground. He was then arrested.
Staff writer Sierra Lopez contributed to this report.
