Officer injured, suspect killed in shooting

San José police run over a man during a gunfight, ending a 4-day crime rampage.

- BY RUBEN VIVES

A SAN JOS police officer and an armed suspect exchange gunfire Wednesday.

(San Jos Police Department)

A gun battle unfolded on the streets of a Northern California city this week that was captured in disturbing video — an incidence of violence that a police official likened to “an action movie” that nobody wanted to see happen in reality.

The San José Police Department said a carjacking suspect shot and wounded an officer during a close-range gunfight before he was mowed down by a police cruiser and fatally shot.

The gunfight marked the end of the suspect’s violent four-day crime rampage across three counties that included armed robberies, carjackings, car chases and police shootouts, San José Police Chief Paul Joseph said at a news conference Thursday, a day after the incident.

“It involved at least six law enforcement agencies, who pursued the suspect across multiple jurisdictions as he placed countless community members in danger as gun battles unfolded in several cities,” Joseph said.

The police chief identified the suspect as Mohamed Husien, 30, a resident of Davis. Husien was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shootout, captured on video by news helicopters and witnesses, erupted Wednesday afternoon after the suspect crashed his car near Julian Street and Notre Dame Avenue, next to the offramp of Highway 87 and seven blocks from City Hall.

The videos shared on social media show the suspect dodging a police cruiser attempting to run him down before opening fire at the officer and charging him.

In the videos, the suspect fires his weapon from the rear of the police cruiser while the officer returns fire from the driver side before charging at the suspect as he started to move around the vehicle.

“The suspect continued to circle the [officer's] patrol vehicle while firing at him from only feet away,” Joseph said.