Amid the epidemic of attacks on police officers, a gunman opened fire on a police headquarters in Stockton, California.
Police received two calls about a man firing a gun in parking lot of the the Stockton Police Department Operations Building at 22 E. Market Street at around 8:30 p.m. on December 8th.
Responding to the calls, six officers exited the building through the front lobby doors to investigate. As soon as they were outside the suspect began walking towards them, screaming, armed with a handgun.
The gunman, who has since been identified as 42 year old Stockton resident Angelo Weitz, was given commands to get on the ground and drop the gun.
Weitz dropped to the ground and got on his stomach, but did not drop the weapon, and continued screaming.
At some point, Weitz got back up, pointed the gun at officers, and began running at them. Five of the six officers then opened fire on the suspect.
While it is unclear how many times the gunman was hit, he was taken down. Officers then started life-saving measures until paramedics arrived and took over.
Weitz ultimately succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured during the shooting.
While civilians were present outside of the police headquarters at the time of the shooting, they were also unharmed.
Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones spoke after the incident, saying that the officers were forced to fire.
“Unfortunately, we’re seeing more cases like this, not just in our area — whether it be ambushes or assaults on police officers or their building or operations buildings. We’ve been seeing an increase of this really nationally and it’s extremely concerning,” Jones said.
All five of the officers who shot Weitz will be placed on a three-day paid administrative leave, per standard law enforcement operating procedure after a shooting.
