Man With BB Gun Fatally Shot By Police In San Pablo

SAN PABLO, CA — Four San Pablo police officers shot and killed a man who allegedly held a pellet gun and turned toward officers who had pulled him over on Wednesday, police said.

The San Pablo Police Department on Thursday published a press release about the shooting, which occurred on Market Avenue outside of city limits in the North Richmond area. The name of the man who died and the officers who fired at him have not been released.

Officers initially responded to a 911 call from a clerk at a store in the 1300 block of Market Avenue who said a man was in the parking lot carrying what appeared to be a firearm, then fled recklessly from the lot.

Officers found the car heading west on Market Avenue and pulled it over, and in initial attempts to communicate with him noticed the man had blood on his hands, so they told him to exit the vehicle and put his hands up, according to police.

The man then exited the car and held in his right hand what appeared to be a real gun but was eventually determined to be a BB pellet gun. He allegedly mimicked the motion of racking the slide of the firearm and then pulled the gun to his chest and turned toward the officers, and the four officers opened fire, striking him. He was pronounced dead on the way to a hospital, police said.

Detectives said the man allegedly talked about his intention of forcing officers to kill him and had said "goodbye" to family members earlier Wednesday.

The shooting is under investigation jointly by San Pablo police, the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office and the county Sheriff's Office.

The state Attorney General's Office initially was called to the scene when the firearm was believed to be an airsoft gun that shoots plastic projectiles, since a state law approved last year requires a state prosecutor to investigate a police shooting that results in the death of an unarmed civilian. However, because a BB gun is considered a deadly weapon, that state prosecutor has stepped away from the investigation, police said.

San Pablo police said they plan to release more information, including officer body-worn camera footage, at a later date. They are asking anyone with information about the case to call their investigations division at (510) 215-3150.

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