SAN JOSE — Police and city officials praised officers’ courage after a downtown gunfight Wednesday afternoon involving a “very violent and aggressive” suspect who spurred multiple police shootouts — including him reportedly firing at a pursuing police car — that ended with his death and a San Jose police sergeant recovering from a bullet graze to his head.
The dramatic sequence, with a flood of police vehicles and armed officers moving through afternoon traffic at Notre Dame Avenue and West Julian Street, unfolded in the shadow of Highway 87. It drew even more attention after several eyewitness videos captured footage of the man, on the ground prone after presumably being shot, being run over by a trailing police SUV and the sound of several more gunshots as he lay splayed on the pavement.
San Jose police Chief Paul Joseph was firm in backing his officers’ actions to stop what he called a deadly threat to public safety, a man tied to multiple armed robberies and carjackings spanning from Sacramento to San Jose in the four days leading up to the fatal confrontation. The deceased suspect was identified as 30-year-old Mohamed Husien, a Davis resident who Joseph said had no clear ties to the Bay Area.
“One thing is consistent with this kind of violence: He was always destined to meet a police officer somewhere,” Joseph said at a Thursday news conference. “Yesterday we came dangerously close to paying the ultimate cost … I know I could easily stand here today delivering very different news.”
Both the police department and officer union said the injured sergeant is “doing well” and is in “good spirits,” with Joseph confirming that the injured sergeant, a recently promoted 13-year SJPD veteran, was shot in the head. Sources familiar with the investigation confirmed the sergeant underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture from a bullet graze, and was expected to be released from the hospital Thursday.
“Thankfully he will survive his injuries. This was a scene none of us ever want to witness in real life,” Joseph said. “It’s the kind of footage people might expect from an action movie. But this was not a movie. It was a battle for that sergeant’s life, unfolding in the middle of our city, in broad daylight, with members of the public in the crossfire.”
The chief said the sergeant was shot after Husien, having crashed the second car he reportedly carjacked Wednesday, rushed at his police SUV and opened fire as the sergeant got out of the vehicle and returned fire while the two men stood just several feet apart. Joseph said the sergeant, while “bleeding from the head,” fended off the attack as he and the suspect circled the SUV.
At some point, as shown in eyewitness video obtained by the Bay Area News Group, Husien is seen briefly entering the police vehicle before getting out and running west toward the Highway 87 underpass. Gunshots can be heard as the man falls to the ground. Seconds later, another officer in a separate police SUV drives over the suspect, who was later pronounced dead at the scene.
In all, more than two dozen gunshots could be heard in at least three separate volleys — during the initial exchange with the sergeant, as the suspect tried to flee and after he fell to the ground. Nine officers were identified as having used deadly force, either by shooting at Husien or running him over.
Joseph said Husien was still moving and holding his gun, which was loaded with an extended magazine, when an officer hit him with the police vehicle. When asked about the necessity of the latter tactic, the chief declined to comment on its adherence with department policy.
“I can’t get into the specifics of that, but what I will tell you is this: Nothing about a deadly force encounter is pretty, and at that point you have an incredibly dangerous situation with a dangerous individual,” Joseph said. “That individual needs to be stopped, and whatever means the officers needed to use to stop that individual … these things will be judged by the district attorney and by this department to make sure that they are complying with the law and the policy.”
He added: “Let’s not lose sight of the fact of what we’re dealing with here. We’re dealing with somebody who’s fired at multiple police officers, who shot one of our sergeants in the head, who carjacked a person at a dealership in San Jose to get the green Corvette, carjacked someone at gunpoint in Hollister, a passing motorist, to escape after the first officer-involved shooting and clearly didn’t show any signs of surrendering peacefully, and needed to be stopped for the safety of the officers involved and our community.”
Husien was wanted in connection with the theft of a red Chevrolet Corvette in Sacramento on Jan. 17, and two store robberies that same day, including one in San Jose. The next day, he was linked to a robbery on the Peninsula and another robbery on Coleman Road in San Jose.
Earlier Wednesday, San Jose police spotted the Corvette via the department’s Real-Time Intelligence Center, and police officers briefly pursued it but lost track of it. They eventually found it abandoned.
Husein came back on San Jose police’s radar around 2 p.m. Wednesday when he was reported to have carjacked at gunpoint a green Corvette from a Chevrolet dealership on Capitol Expressway and was tracked by a San Jose police helicopter to Hollister. Around 2:55 p.m., he got into a shootout with Hollister police after officers in that city spotted the stolen vehicle near Central Avenue and Miller Road and pursued it until it broke down near Buena Vista Road and Westside Boulevard. No one was hit.
San Benito County sheriff’s deputies caught up with Husien near Buena Vista Road and Line Street, and they exchanged gunfire, again with no injuries. Authorities say Husien then carjacked another vehicle at gunpoint, and fled the city and headed north back to San Jose.
On Highway 101, the suspect allegedly fired at California Highway Patrol officers who had joined the pursuit. The chase continued onto highways 85 and 87 in San Jose before the suspect exited in Willow Glen and drove to the final shooting site in downtown San Jose, with officers from San Jose police, the CHP and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office in pursuit.
During the Thursday news conference, Joseph was asked about the suspect’s possible tactical experience, given how Husien was seen charging at and then circling the sergeant he wounded. The chief said not much was immediately known about Husien’s background, but that his intent was evident.
“Not only didn’t he back away from us or try to escape, he (was aggressive) on our officer and was intent on having a gunbattle,” Joseph said. “I don’t know where he learned those tactics … I can only comment on what I observed, which was a very violent and aggressive person who had no problem with confronting law enforcement.”
The shooting site was still being examined by police on Thursday, and many of the vehicles within the crime scene remained. Nearby, Andy, a resident who asked to withhold his last name for privacy reasons, recalled seeing from his terrace “a melee of cops going with heavy weapons,” soon after followed by the sight of a “corpse on the ground.”
“This was not the sort of thing I expected to see here,” he said. “No matter what the circumstances are, it’s still really sad.”
Staff writer Jason Green contributed to this report.