San Jose police shoot and kill armed homicide suspect

Sources tell me the man shot by #SanJose police last night on Senter Rd was a suspect in a homicide #KTVU pic.twitter.com/7cHDpMgcZl — Janine De la Vega (@JanineKTVU) August 17, 2015

San Jose police shot and killed a homicide suspect after he allegedly reached for a gun — the third time police in the city have opened fire in a little more than a week, authorities said Monday.

The latest shooting, which also comes days after police shot and killed suspects in Oakland and Sunnyvale, happened near the Launderland at a strip mall at 3122 Senter Road near East Capitol Expressway at about 10:10 p.m. Sunday.

Police were tracking a man suspected in Thursday’s slaying of Christopher Maxwell Wrenn, 38, of San Jose, who died after he was found shot in an office complex on Lundy Avenue in the city’s Berryessa neighborhood.

Two officers confronted the suspect and shot him after he brandished a gun at them, police said.

“Shots fired,” an officer reported on the radio. “Our suspect is down in front of the Launderland just south of the 7-Eleven.”

The suspect died at the scene. His name was not immediately released. His gun was recovered, police said.

“They’re looking at a person that’s going to reach for a gun that already has that warrant for murder, so we know that this person isn’t only capable, he’s already committed murder,” said Sgt. Enrique Garcia, a San Jose police spokesman. “So he’s going to take on the police — is he going to shoot anybody else?”

Dung Ly, owner of the Launderland laundry, told reporters that he was closing up the business when he saw a man holding a gun and police confronting him.

“I heard a loud bang,” Ly said. A bullet apparently fired by police went through the glass window of the laundry “and between my legs,” he said, adding that he suffered minor wounds from broken glass.

The shooting is under investigation by police and the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office. The two officers who fired their guns were placed on paid leave. Their names were withheld.

The incident comes after San Jose police fired their guns at suspects in two separate incidents over the past week. One man shot himself to death after he brandished a shotgun at officers, who opened fire, while a second man, a stabbing suspect, was shot dead while armed with a meat cleaver, police said.

“Our officers are getting attacked, and we’re really concerned about that,” Garcia said. “Our officers have a right to defend themselves ... and defend the public.”

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee