A female officer responding to an assault in Oakland on Thursday morning ended up killing a suspect after the man immediately struck her multiple times with a metal chain when she tried to talk to him, Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent said.

Whent said the officer, who is an 18-year veteran of the force, went to a residential complex at the corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Van Buren Avenue at about 8:30 a.m. to follow-up with the victim of an assault at the complex that was reported at about 6:45 a.m.

The victim told several officers who responded to the scene at about 7 a.m. that the suspect had been trespassing in the complex's garage. When she asked him to leave he assaulted her, according to Whent.

Officer Johnna Watson said crowds of angry residents started to gather around the scene at MacArthur Boulevard and Van Buren Avenue after the shooting death. A protest in response to the fatal police shooting is planned at 5 p.m. in Oakland.

The officer, who was hit in the face and the head, was taken to the hospital in serious condition suffering from a head injury, Watson said. She was alone at the time and she discharged her weapon after she was attacked, Watson said.

Her anxious voice was recorded as she called police communications.

"I need Code 3 medical!" the officer told police communications. Her voice is filled with angst, and she's heard breathing very heavily into the phone. "I've been struck in the head by the suspect. Please! I still got him at gunpoint."



"All units Code 3," the police communications operator says.

Whent said the officer was wearing a body camera during the incident and he has viewed the footage, which he said supports his assertion that the suspect attacked the officer immediately after she approached him.

"There was no verbal exchange," Whent said.

The officer won't be interviewed about the shooting until she's released from the hospital and at this time it's not known when that will be, Whent said.



The NBC Bay Area chopper showed heavy police presence in the area, including more than a dozen police cars and officers at the scene of the shooting. A yellow tarp and a body bag could be seen at the scene of the shooting.

Watson said the incident Thursday is the sixth officer-involved shooting in Oakland this year and the fourth that was fatal.