The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has determined that a Sunnyvale officer lawfully shot and killed a 19-year-old man who rushed at him with a 12-inch kitchen knife.
The incident happened nearly a year ago at a Sunnyvale mobile home park. Around 5:30 p.m. on March 23, 2024, Officers contacted Emmanuel Perez-Becerra after receiving phone calls that there was a man walking through the neighborhood “openly displaying a large kitchen knife.” When they arrived, they found the young man walking through the neighborhood without pants or underwear on his body.
In its report released on Feb. 21, the DA’s office said Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (DPS) officer Kevin Lemos initially contacted Perez-Becerra and told him to drop the knife via the PA system in his patrol car.
The DA’s news release says that when asked during the investigation why Lemos got out of the vehicle, the officer explained that “Perez-Becerra was not responding to commands over the PA to drop the knife and was walking away from him.”
“Consequently, Officer Lemos wanted to ‘keep eyes on’ this man he believed was a danger to the neighborhood residents. He explained that, based on the day and time, it would have been common for adults and children to be out and about in the area,” read the DA’s news release on the incident.
The news release included body camera footage from Officer Lemos after he exited his vehicle. In it, you can see Lemos telling Perez-Becerra to drop the knife several times.
In the video, Perez-Becerra turns and starts walking toward Officer Lemos, knife still in hand. The officer begins backing away, telling Perez-Becerra several times to drop the knife. The officer also indicates that he will open fire if Perez-Becerra does not drop the knife.
When Perez-Becerra sped up his advance toward the officer, Lemos fired two shots, hitting Perez-Becerra in the chest twice.
“This incident is unquestionably heartbreaking for both the officer and the decedent’s family,” said Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker. “The evidence strongly suggests that Perez-Becerra may have committed ‘suicide by cop’ due to a years-long battle with depression and schizophrenia. His own actions and behavior, however, placed Officer Lemos in the unfortunate situation that left him with, in the words of an independent bystander, ‘no choice’ but to use lethal force.”
According to the DA’s office, the autopsy report shows Perez-Becerra was diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia in March 2023 “following six years of suicidal ideation.” He had also been placed on voluntary and involuntary Emergency Psychiatric Services holds at least twice in the two years leading up to the shooting.
Perez-Becerra’s family has filed suit against Sunnyvale DPS. The family’s attorney told KRON4 news that officers should have used other methods to disarm Becerra.
“The officer had a Taser. He had pepper spray. He had a baton,” said civil rights attorney Adanté Pointer of Oakland’s Pointer & Buelna, Lawyers for the People law firm. “He never attempted to deescalate the situation, or to use non-lethal force, or to use any other method that might have avoided this needless loss of a young man’s life.”
He was 19, an adult. Yes, technically a teenager, but a misleading title.