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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Police Involved Shootings For October, 2011

     During the month of October, law enforcement officers in the United States shot 98 people, killing 48. This brings the yearly police shooting total to 973. 532 of these shootings were fatal.

     Police in California, in October, shot 26 people, killing 8. So far this year California officers have shot 160 suspects, killing 83. In October, police in San Jose shot 4, killing 1. So far this year there have been 6 police shootings in this city, 3 of them fatal. Police officers in Los Angeles have shot 16 people this year, killing 13 of them.

     In Arizona, this past October, police shot 8, killing 4. There have been 39 police involved shootings in the state so far this year of which 27 were fatal. In October, officers in Phoenix shot 4, killing 1. So far this year in Phoenix, officers have shot 15, killing 9.

     In Ohio this October, police shot 2, killing 1. There have been 42 police involved shootings this year in the state. (In neighboring Pennsylvania, there have been 37.) In October, officers in Columbus shot 2, killing 1. So far this year in Columbus officers have shot 13, killing 10.

     In Maryland this October, police officers shot 3, killing 1. There have been 30 police involved shootings this year in the state of which 12 were fatal. In Baltimore this October, the police shot 3, killing 2. So far this year in Baltimore, officers have shot 13, killing 4.

     This year, 6 percent of the nation's police involved shootings have taken place in California. Besides Los Angeles and San Jose, there have been numerous shootings in Oakland (8), Fresno (7), San Diego (7), Long Beach (4) and Bakersfield (4).

FEATURED CASE

     At 7:48 AM on Sunday, October 23, officers with the San Jose Police Department, in response to a 911 call involving "a suspicious person with a weapon," arrived at the Extended Stay Deluxe Hotel on East Brokaw Road. They found Javier Gonzales-Guerrero, 25, passed out or sleeping in a stairwell. The subject, having attended a Halloween party, was dressed in medical scrubs. When the officers roused the suspect, he reached into his waistband for what looked like the butt of a handgun. Several officers fired their weapons. Although several bullets hit Gonzales-Guerrero, he wasn't killed.

     The gun in the suspect's waistband turned out to be a plastic, gold-colored toy six-shooter. I guess the lesson to be learned here is: when dressing up for Halloween, don't include a toy gun. (And, in a few cities, don't wear a mask, because it's against the law.)  

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