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One dead, two injured in deadly shootout
By Jana Seshadri
One person is dead and two injured, including one public safety officer, during a shootout and six-hour standoff in an apartment complex in Sunnyvale.
At approximately 5:15 p.m. on March 10, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety received phone calls from residents living in an apartment complex in the 700 block of San Juan Drive about hearing gun shots, said Captain Byron Pipkin, public information officer.
According to Pipkin, when Sunnyvale Public Safety officers arrived on the scene, they found that a neighbor had been shot. The suspect--an unidentified, 50-year-old white male--emerged from his apartment and fired shots at the police, wounding Officer Lance Bauer. Bauer and the neighbor were treated for minor injuries at a local hospital and released, Pipkin said.
Officers evacuated as many people as possible from the premises and tried to negotiate with the suspect, who locked himself in his apartment. Members of the Sunnyvale SWAT team arrived and some members went up on the roof of the apartment building to gain a better view of the premises, Pipkin said. As a routine measure, hostage negotiators were also present at the scene even though there was no hostage situation.
At 6:30 p.m., the suspect emerged from his apartment again, Pipkin said. At that time, officers on the roof and surrounding the building asked him to put his hands up in the air and surrender. According to Pipkin, the suspect refused and shot at them. The officers fired back and the suspect was seen retreating back into his apartment. At that point officers didn't know if any of their shots had hit or injured the suspect, Pipkin said.
The suspect did not respond to any verbal or telephone contact that the officers made with him in attempts at negotiation, Pipkin said. The officers did not know whether the suspect was waiting for them to enter his apartment. The San Jose Police Department was asked to bring in its armored carrier and with their help knocked down the thick, strong fence in front of the suspect's apartment door, Pipkin said.
"It was a very dangerous situation to send our officers inside the apartment," Pipkin said.
The officers entered the suspect's apartment around 12:30 a.m. Upon entering the apartment, the officers found that the suspect was dead, Pipkin said.
Pipkin confirmed that the suspect died from a gunshot wound to his chest, fired by one of the police officers during the shoot out.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
