Dramatic footage captured the moment a California cop was shot during a wild gun battle with an armed robbery suspect who had forced his way into a family’s home.
The footage obtained by ABC 7 shows San Jose police officers rushing into the home near Goodyear Street and Lick Avenue on Tuesday afternoon before a barrage of gunfire erupts.
Officers can then be seen rushing three people to safety, including a man carrying a baby and another child.
The chaotic confrontation unfolded after cops spotted a suspect wanted in connection with two armed robberies driving an SUV around 12:30 p.m., according to police.
Officers tried to stop him, but investigators said the suspect pulled a gun on them, fled, abandoned the vehicle, and ran into a nearby home.
Separate surveillance footage obtained by ABC 7 shows the suspect forcing his way through a family’s back door roughly five minutes before the shootout.
Police followed him inside to protect the people in the home and found him hiding there.
“When they entered, they located the suspect hiding in the residence,” San Jose Police Department Public Information Representative Stacie Shih told ABC7.
“Our officers located the suspect, at which point the suspect shot at two officers, striking one officer at least once.”
Police returned fire, striking the suspect at least once. He died at the scene.
The wounded officer was rushed to Valley Medical Center in critical condition.
Police said early Wednesday that he had stabilized and was in good spirits.
Homeowners Brett and Angela Bymaster were not home when the gunman burst inside, but said their grandchildren and son-in-law were caught in the middle of the chaos.
“So, they got him out safely. And just as he left, the man was killed with an assault rifle,” Brett Bymaster told the network.
Angela Bymaster said the family had left the area inside the home where the suspect entered just moments earlier after the baby began crying.
“God protected them and saved them. And, you know, just seconds before the man came in, the baby cried, and they all went to look for the baby and see what he needed. And that just pulled them out of where danger was,” she told the outlet.
The shooting triggered a massive police response Tuesday, with San Jose cops and Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies seen with guns drawn nearby.
Police have not released the suspect’s identity as investigators continue to determine exactly what happened.
