Calif. officer cleared in 2017 shooting of man with ax, video released
By: Mark Gomez & Robert Salonga, The Mercury News
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Prosecutors have concluded that a San Jose police officer was legally justified when he shot and killed an ax-wielding man inside a downtown apartment more than two years ago, according to a report released Monday by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Also released with the 31-page report on the fatal shooting of 35-year-old Francis De La Cruz was police body-camera video of his confrontation with San Jose police. During the deadly encounter, Officer Juan Avila fired six to seven shots at De La Cruz, who was walking toward him and other officers with an ax in hand, prosecutors wrote.
Just after midnight May 28, 2017, Avila and officers Eduardo Maldonado and Zachary Preuss went to the Donner Lofts apartments at 158 E. St. John Street after a third-floor resident told a security guard he had a bomb. The security guard went to the unit after receiving a noise complaint, and the resident reportedly told the guard “if he knew better he would stop knocking on the door,” before saying he had a bomb.
