West Oakland BART station reopened after shooting

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A shooting investigation prompted the closure of the West Oakland BART station Tuesday night.

According to BART officials there was a man smoking on a platform and two officers approached him, asking him to put out the cigarette. They say he refused to provide identification and threatened to jump onto the tracks. The encounter escalated to the point where the officers began fighting with him.

BART officials say the officers then tased the man when it appeared he was reaching for his waistband and that is when the man's own gun went off. It appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound that now has the man in critical condition at Highland Hospital, where he is undergoing surgery.

"Our information is that he shot himself while grabbing the weapon out of his waistband. We don't know what his motive was, but that's what we have right now, is that he shot himself," Jeffery Jennings, the BART deputy chief of operations, said. "I can't make the assumption that it was accidental or purposeful. The person was acting erratically and he was resisting violently. So I can't make that leap of why he pulled the trigger on himself."

The BART police officers were wearing body cameras, which will be reviewed later. The district attorney will also be conducting an investigation.

The station was reopened around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.