Officials: Palo Alto police lawfully killed man

The knife used by 31-year-old Williams David Raff as he charged at officers on December 25, 2015. Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday May 24, 2016 that Officers Nicolas Enberg and Zachary Wicht lawfully shot and killed Raff. less The knife used by 31-year-old Williams David Raff as he charged at officers on December 25, 2015. Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday May 24, 2016 that Officers Nicolas Enberg and ... more Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Officials: Palo Alto police lawfully killed man 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Two Palo Alto police officers who shot and killed a schizophrenic man after he called police to his mental health home on Christmas Day lawfully used deadly force when he charged them with a kitchen knife, prosecutors announced Tuesday with the release of graphic video of the shooting.

The video footage, along with a 31-page report released by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, detailed the events that led Officers Nicolas Enberg and Zachary Wicht to fire their guns at 31-year-old Palo Alto resident William David Raff.

Officer Khalil Tannous, a 2-year-veteran on the force, was also on scene but used a stun gun on Raff’s leg, Deputy District Attorney Charles Gillingham wrote in the report.

“The totality of the evidence leads only to the conclusion that William Raff was intent on dying at the hands of police officers on December 25, 2015,” Gillingham stated. “William Raff called 911 that night to create a fake emergency and draw an armed response from the police. Raff then committed suicide by attacking the officers, who shot him in self-defense.”

A viewer discretion label precedes the video, publicly released on the district attorney’s YouTube page. The office released the video in an effort to build public trust and transparency, and because the footage “was relevant to our decision.”

The 1-minute 7 second clip offers up to five angles of the shooting. It shows officers arriving on scene around 9:20 p.m., finding a man running in the street.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa whoa,” Tannous shouts as they first encounter Raff, sporadically running from a shadowy corner of the 600 block of Forest Avenue. At that point, the officers repeatedly order Raff to drop the knife.

“Put the knife down.”

“Hey, hey, come on. Put down the knife, man.”

“Drop the knife,” an officer yelled louder. “Drop the knife.”

Raff screamed while he ran directly at Enberg, waving something in his hand, his yells muffled by the sound of at least four shots coming from the guns of two officers. He fell to the ground, motionless.

Enberg and Wicht were put on paid leave immediately after the shooting but returned to full duty a few weeks afterward. Both were back to their patrol assignments, said Lt. Zach Perron, a Palo Alto Police spokesman.

“We have tremendous sympathy for the Raff family and William’s friends and loved ones,” the department said in a statement, adding an administrative investigation was still ongoing.

The probe will include a review of relevant policies, training, tactics, and equipment, the department said.

Before the shooting, prosecutors said, Raff called in a false report to 911 around 9:15 p.m., reporting a fictitious man by the name Andre Seal “intends to do harm to some others” at La Selva House, where he was a resident.

All of the officers were familiar with the location because they had taken unstable residents to the hospital in the past. They did not know that the weapon in Raff’s hand was a table knife, prosecutors said.

“The fact that the knife used by Raff was a dinnerware knife does not make the situation less threatening for the officers, or their actions less justified,” Gillingham wrote. “The knife used could be used to inflict a fatal wound or serious injury on the officers whose faces and necks were exposed and whose vests were not designed to protect from knife strikes.”

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: JennaJourno