Menlo Park police kill alleged gunman

A suspected burglar armed with a gun was shot and killed by police Tuesday in Menlo Park, authorities said.

The shooting happened at 64 Willow Place about 12:45 p.m. when a Menlo Park police sergeant and two officers responding to a possible burglary at a business found the suspect, police said. The man fled on foot, and officers chased after him.

An officer pulled a Taser on the suspect, who then brandished a gun and fired a shot toward the sergeant, said Alison Berry Wilkinson, the sergeant’s attorney. The sergeant and the two officers all fired at the suspect, who was hit numerous times.

The man, whose name wasn’t immediately released, died at the scene.

“Officer-involved shooting — we’ve got one down!” an officer said over the radio. “We’re going to need medics.”

The suspect’s weapon was recovered. An officer hurt his knee during the foot chase.

The suspect matched the description of a man who had been stealing items from various businesses in the area, Wilkinson said. The officers had found his car and were looking for the suspect before the confrontation, she said.

Wilkinson said the officers were “absolutely justified” in using deadly force against a suspect who had fired at them. “There’s no question that public safety was jeopardized,” she said. “The threat was absolutely clear.”

Widjaja Sudiro, who lives across the street from the scene of the shooting, was kept away from his home for several hours, as the street was blocked with police tape. Down the road, a body covered by a yellow tarp lay in the middle of the tree-lined street.

Sudiro said he had lived in the area for many years and hadn’t seen anything like what happened Tuesday.

“It’s always been a very peaceful neighborhood,” he said. “The security is very good.”

The names of the officers weren’t released. They were placed on administrative leave pending investigations by police and the San Mateo County district attorney’s office. Members of the county crime lab were also called to the scene to process evidence.

The last fatal officer-involved shooting in Menlo Park was in December 2006, when a city officer and a San Mateo County sheriff’s sergeant shot and killed a 16-year-old boy who allegedly fired a gun at them.

Henry K. Lee and Kale Williams are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com, kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee, @sfkale