San Jose police said Monday officers used bean bag stun guns and a taser before shooting a suspect who charged them with a weapon after they stopped him from trying to set a gas station pump on fire.
The officer-involved shooting, which left 32-year-old Jose Antonio Delossantos of San Jose hospitalized, happened Saturday morning at an Arco station on Quimby Road in East San Jose.
Julia Rangel, a regular customer at the Arco station, said she was turned away from the gas station as police cars swarmed the area. She was horrified to hear officers shot a man trying to set a gas pump on fire.
"Crazy, bizarre, just weird. I don’t understand what happened," Rangel said. "We came to fill up and we couldn’t get here because all the streets were closed off."
The gas station manager confirmed a worker called her to say the suspect was stuffing paper into gas nozzles while holding a lighter. She said she called 911 before telling the worker to shut off the fuel.
San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia said two officers commanded the suspect to put the lighter down. Instead of listening to the officers, the suspect kept trying to ignite the paper in the nozzle.
Officers used bean bag stun guns and a taser to no effect before three gunshots brought the suspect down, police said.
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"I will tell you one of the things that we all noticed was towards his charge at the officers, there was a very ominous laugh that the suspect had," Garcia said.
Garcia said uniform camera footage of the shooting will be released publicly in a few weeks.
Delossantos, who has a violent criminal history, is in stable condition and will face two counts of assault on police officers and one count of attempted arson.
