DA investigates police shooting of man reported to have fired at armored vehicle

The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the Friday night shooting of a 29-year-old Pittsburg man who Pittsburg police said fired a rifle at their armored vehicle.

The incident began just before 11:30 p.m. when officers were called to a home in the 1300 block of Redwood Street. A woman and her husband said they were hiding in a bedroom after their adult son had fired several rounds from a rifle outside their home.

The woman told dispatchers he came back inside the house with the rifle.

According to a press release, when officers arrived in the neighborhood, they heard a gunshot that appeared to have come from the house. Officers were able to evacuate the couple, described as elderly, without the suspect knowing.

Officers used the department’s ballistically armored transport vehicle to approach the front of the home. One of the officers was positioned at the top of the vehicle’s roof and had a direct view of the front of the house.

Officers then saw the front porch light of the house turn off and the man walk outside with the rifle. An officer yelled for the man to show his hands. Police said the man then pointed the rifle toward the armored vehicle and shot at it.

An officer then fired one round from his service rifle, hitting the man in the upper torso. The man walked back inside the house, where he called 9-1-1 and told the dispatcher he had been shot. The man was instructed to go back outside without the rifle, which he did.

Officers handcuffed the man and gave him medical care until paramedics arrived. He was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.

A loaded rifle with a fired casing inside the chamber was recovered from inside the house.

The Contra Costa County Officer Involved Incident Protocol has been enacted, and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office is conducting an independent investigation into the shooting.

The Pittsburg Police Department’s outside investigator is also conducting an independent investigation.

The department said it plans to release body-camera footage in the coming weeks.

This is the second police-involved shooting in Pittsburg in less than a month. On Feb. 23, Pittsburg police shot a man with a knife who had barricaded himself in a hotel room for more than 20 hours.

That suspect, 45-year-old Ashton Porter, of Alpharetta, Ga., survived the shooting and is in custody on multiple felony charges.