In another case of mistaken identity, San Jose Police shot and hospitalized a man that disarmed a gunman during a fight at a California restaurant on Sunday.
According to NBC Bay Area, attorney Adante Pointer said K’aun Green, 20, prevented a shooting inside the La Victoria restaurant before a San Jose police officer opened fire, striking Green.
Pointer claims, “The police yelled ‘drop the gun,’ and without giving my client a second to understand it was the police, or turn around and see what was going on, or even to drop the gun, he was shot multiple times.”
However, San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata argues the opposite. Mata says that Green did not respond to repeated orders to drop the weapon and claims Green described the weapon as a “ghost gun,” as he backed out of the restaurant’s front door.
The chief said that the incident occurred less than one block from a homicide involving a firearm, where the alleged shooter fled on foot around 2:43 a.m. As customers fled the fight at the restaurant, they alerted nearby officers that a fight with a gun was happening inside. He continued, enforcement believed an “active shooter scenario [was] unfolding or about to unfold.”
Police shared the chaotic ordeal captured by the restaurant’s surveillance cameras. Multiple people can be seen throwing punches, wrestling on the floor, and even the firearm changing possession several times.
Another angle of the surveillance video shows Green trying to wrestle the gun away from others.
Footage from bystanders outside of the restaurant capture the moment law enforcement intercept Green on the steps as he exits backwards.
The cellphone video depicts a slightly different narrative than police are claiming. In the 40 second video, Green quickly turns his back as he exits the restaurant once he sees police and backs out toward them. Bystanders can be heard yelling to ease the situation, Green turns his toward the police and is met with multiple shots.
The bystanders appear shocked by the escalation.
Green sustained gunshot wounds in the abdomen, leg, and twice in the arm.
Investigators later discovered that the gun did not belong to Green, NBCNews reports. The person who originally brandished the weapon was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The officer who shot Green, a four-year veteran of the department, was placed on routine administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, according to Mata.
Green’s legal representation said that authorities kept Green handcuffed to his hospital bed and denied him access to his family until he was cleared as a suspect “days” after the shooting.
Police failed to mention they shot the wrong person during the press conference.
According to NBC News, a spokesman for the department declined to comment as litigation is “pending.”