DA: San Jose officer lawfully shot man with replica gun near school on Halloween

SAN JOSE — Prosecutors have concluded that a San Jose police officer was acting lawfully when he fatally shot a man carrying a replica handgun and walking toward a high school as classes were letting out last Halloween, according to an investigative report on the shooting.

In an officer-involved shooting analysis, conducted after after every police shooting in Santa Clara County, Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker wrote that Officer Edward Carboni used lethal force on 33-year-old Francis Calonge to prevent a situation that he believed could escalate into a school shooting.

“Tragically, Calonge — a man long-suffering from mental illness and under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs — accomplished ‘suicide by cop’ on October 31, 2019,” Baker wrote. “His behavior placed San Jose police officers in a situation in which they had no choice but to use lethal force to prevent what could have escalated into a lethal active shooter scenario.”

The 29-page shooting report, released Wednesday, also affirmed accounts from police and Calonge’s friends in the wake of the shooting that he had long struggled with his mental health. Police had documented that on two previous occasions — one earlier in 2019 and another in 2016 — he left his East San Jose home with a knife and talked about provoking police into shooting him.

On the afternoon of Oct. 31, 2019, police were called to the area of the 24-Hour Fitness at McKee Road and Jackson Avenue for reports that Calonge was holding a handgun and walking erratically through the shopping plaza parking lot. Responding police officers said they “gave the suspect verbal commands to stop and drop the gun,” but Calonge reportedly defied them and put the replica gun in his waistband.

As the suspect walked toward Independence High School at 2:32 p.m. — six minutes after the initial sighting of the gun — an officer reported into his radio, “Shots fired. Shots fired … He was reaching for the gun.”

Calonge was walking on the west side of North Jackson Avenue and Carboni was about 120 feet southeast of him, standing in the center median, when he shot Calonge with his police-issued rifle, authorities said. Calonge, who was struck in the neck, died at a hospital soon after.

Carboni, who was involved in another fatal shooting earlier in 2019 — an encounter during which a sergeant was dragged by a suspect’s vehicle — told investigators that he feared Calonge might shoot at students as they left school for the day.

The district attorney’s office cited an autopsy report that found Calonge “had alcohol and a toxic level of methamphetamine in his system” when the shooting occurred. The shooting report also states that responding police officers were not immediately aware of Calonge’s past when they encountered him, since his identity was not reported by any 911 callers, and determined afterward that the weapon he was carrying was a replica Beretta pistol.

If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Reach the lifeline at 800-273-8255.

Santa Clara County’s Crisis Hotline can be reached anonymously and confidentially at 1-855-278-4204 24 hours a day.

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