Sunnyvale Officers Shoot Man Carrying a Knife

A Sunnyvale DPS officer shot and killed a man holding a knife on Saturday. Officers repeatedly told the man to put the knife down before firing.

The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (DPS) is working with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office to determine what exactly led up to an officer shooting a man with a knife.

Officers say that around 5:30 on Saturday evening, they received reports of a man walking near a mobile home park near the Plaza Del Rey community. That’s close to the intersection of Tasman Drive and Fair Oaks Avenue.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found a man in the roadway with a knife in his hands.

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According to the Sunnyvale DPS news release, “The officers gave the subject commands to stay where he was and to place the knife on the ground. The subject ignored the officers’ repeated commands and advanced on one of the officers. An officer discharged his firearm, striking the subject.”

Officers at the scene started life-saving measures immediately. The man was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. He later died as a result of his injuries.

Sunnyvale DPS says, as is protocol, it is working with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office and following the Santa Clara County Officer Involved Incident Protocol to investigate the incident.

If you have any information about what happened during or leading up to the incident, please contact Det. G. Limon at (408) 730-7110.

Last Deadly Officer Involved Incident in Sunnyvale

According to the District Attorney’s Office, the last time a Sunnyvale DPS officer was involved in a deadly shooting was in 2017, when officers responded to a domestic stabbing.

The report says that Jesus Virelas Contreras Jr. had barricaded himself inside the home of the victim. Police tried to contact Contreras Jr. and deployed a K9 Jax to try and subdue him. When officers followed Jax into the home, Contreras Jr. reportedly “assaulted officers with a knife” forcing one of the officers to open fire.