Police shoot, kill man they say was armed in Oakland after chase

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Oakland residents heard so many gunshots late Wednesday night they say it sounded like a gun battle erupted in front of their East Oakland homes.

"I could have sworn I heard at least 12-because we were counting 1,2,3- what the heck is going on out there," Augie Flores said about his family listening to the shots.

Police pursued the man from San Leandro into Oakland at 11:00 last night. They believed he was driving a stolen car and had heard he was possibly armed with a gun. Officers say he crashed on Pearmain Street in Oakland and then took off running.

"At the same time our officer saw the man holding a gun. He immediately engaged that suspect by firing his gun at the suspect and then a foot pursuit ensued," Lt. Ted Henderson of the San Leandro Police Department said.

The man then ran over to Pippen and Apple Streets where more shots were fired. Saul Gutierrez saw the whole thing but said he stayed in his fenced in front yard out of fear.

"I have lived here 12 years and I have seen cars get burned but people getting shot like this- never. This is the first time I have seen someone get shot in front of my house," Gutierrez said.

Police are still trying to sort out if the man shot at the officer. The man died at the scene.

"We know that our officer fired shots but we don't know if the suspect fired shots. So I can't say yet if it was a running gun battle because we don't know yet if the suspect fired shots," Lt. Henderson said.

The officer also released his dog to pursue the man. Kane, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois, ran away and was missing overnight.

"This is a very new canine team. They have only been on the street for a week now and it's a very young dog. Green, as we would call him," Lt. Henderson said.

Kane was located at 8:00 Thursday morning in San Leandro, a little more than 2 miles away from the shooting scene.

Daniel Lee had seen a post on Next Door about the missing dog and then saw him while walking his own dog.

"And I think- is that it? Is that not it? Because the collar was pretty distinct, so I knew it probably had to be Kane. You don't see many Belgian Malinois running around," Lee said.

The dog was not injured.

Lt. Henderson says three investigations are now underway.

One, by the Oakland Police Department since the shooting happened in Oakland. A second is being conducted by San Leandro police, to make sure none of their policies were violated.

"And then the district attorney's office will do their own independent investigation into the shooting itself to see if it was justifiable or not," explains Lt. Henderson.

He adds that the officer, who fatally shot the suspect, won't be interviewed until Friday, more than 24 hours after the shooting. He says that incident started Wednesday night and that they only cleared the crime scene late Thursday morning. This way, he explains, it allows his team time to rest.

"So there is a time we have to step back, we have to regain our composure, make sure we... get our rest, so that we can do the best possible job that we can do. So that is a little bit of the reasoning behind just waiting an extra day, so everybody can rest, regain focus, to be transparent as possible and get the right answers for the public," says Lt. Henderson.