San Jose Police Call Shots Fired at Officers an Attempted Murder

San Jose police say a man attempted to shoot and kill two officers who were on foot patrol Sunday night in East San Jose.

Officers were patrolling the area of Luby Drive and Ripley Drive at 7:36pm when they attempted to make contact with a group of men, according to a press release from SJPD. The men ran but one individual—wearing a black and grey Pendleton with a white T-shirt and dark pants—turned and fired several rounds at the officers. Neither of the officers were injured and they did not return fire.

The suspect—described as a clean-shaven Hispanic male in his 20s, 6 feet tall and 160-180 pounds—remains at large. SJPD set up a perimeter to secure the crime scene and are calling the incident an attempted murder, which is noteworthy in that the term “murder” implies the crime was premeditated.

Law enforcement across the nation has been on high alert as officers have been targeted in greater numbers over the last two years, including the Dallas sniper attack. In March 2015, San Jose Officer Michael Johnson was killed in an ambush.

Anyone with information about Sunday’s incident is urged to call 911 or remain anonymous and call Crime Stoppers at 408.947.7867.

UPDATE: San Jose’s police union is holding a press conference Monday to announce that it will pay a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect.

Josh Koehn is a former managing editor for San Jose Inside and Metro Silicon Valley.

8 Comments

  1. PC 187. (a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought.

    PC 188. Such malice may be express or implied.

    PC 217.1 (b) every person who attempts to commit murder against any person listed in subdivision (a – specifies “any peace officer”) in retaliation for or to prevent the performance of the victim’s official duties, shall be confined in the state prison for a term of 15 years to life.

    Reaching for a loaded firearm, pointing it, and firing it at police officers carrying out their duties requires thought process enough to establish premeditation. Contrast Mr. Koehn’s “noteworthy” observation (a question in disguise) in this case with the media’s collective certainty that BART officer Meserle acted with premeditation (enough to allow that disgrace of a DA – Alameda County’s Nancy O’Malley, to charge him with 1st Degree murder).

  2. Just a PSA.

    Cops say they offer a reward. What will happen is, you’ll do the footwork for them, give them the suspect with a bow wrapped around them. Afterwards they’ll tell the public, “We found him ourselves!” and give you a pat on the back.

    • Reward money is not offered as an incentive for citizen footwork, it is offered to temp those who possess pertinent information — and for whom civic duty is not incentive enough, into sharing it with the police. Departments don’t use rewards because they’re lazy, they use them because they’re not blind to human nature.

  3. Robert Cortese your response is very child like. My 6 grade son would think this way. I wouldnt expect an educated adult unless they already have a bias. DUI, domestic violence or just a bunch of speeding tickets? What color is your ax?

  4. “. . . calling the incident an attempted murder, which is noteworthy in that the term “murder” implies the crime was premeditated.” In California attempted murder requires an intent to kill, it has nothing to do with premeditation. It is not a terribly shocking inference that when you shoot a gun several times at the police that you want them dead. A very serious crime yes, but not one that necessarily has anything to do with premeditation. If they wanted to “imply” premeditation, they would have just said so.

  5. This is the second incident in this area in two and a half weeks, of a twenty something hispanic male attacking the police within a half mile of this location.

    Is this the definition of racism and profiling on the part of the PD you’re always pointing out Josh?

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