San Jose police identify suspect shot by officers
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Authorities said the suspect wounded in a shootout with San Jose police over the weekend was a felon in possession of a firearm.
The suspect was identified as 41-year-old Ricardo Villarreal, according to the San Jose Police Department.
At a news conference on Monday afternoon, Interim Chief Paul Joseph said Villarreal remains in critical condition.
Joseph said that his officers were immediately met with gunfire when they responded on Sunday around 4:16 p.m. to K&K Apartments in the 2700 block of Kollmar Drive. Officers had responded to the complex after a 911 call from neighbors about a man firing a gun from a van in an alleyway behind the complex.
A neighbor reported that the suspect had also blocked another resident's access to the parking lot of the apartment complex and brandished a firearm at them.
Two officers arrived at the scene, and within a minute, Villarreal opened fire on them. The officers returned fire.
Joseph said the suspect reloaded his firearm and continued to shoot while fleeing the area.
Additional officers arrived and encountered the suspect as he was fleeing. At some point, the suspect pointed his firearm at one of the responding officers, and a separate officer discharged his firearm, striking the suspect.
Villarreal was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition.
Resident Jorge Chavez described hearing gunshots when officers first arrived.
"We heard gunfire. I thought it was firecrackers. So we didn’t think too much of it. But later we heard like two more gunshots. And that’s when I looked out the kitchen window and I saw there was like a van with broken windows," said Chavez.
Joseph underscored that Villarreal was a felon and should not have been in possession of a firearm. At the scene, detectives recovered a gun that was loaded and unregistered.
"That’s something we often see. We often see felons with guns. I’ve been doing this a very long time I’ve never seen so many police taking gunfire," said Joseph.
This shooting marks the third officer-involved shooting this year.
