Law enforcement teams from multiple agencies are searching for a suspect in a pair of shootings in Fremont on Wednesday that put two police officers in the hospital, placed a Safeway on lockdown and prompted barricades to go up in neighboring streets during a tense manhunt. Terry McSweeney and Ian Cull report.
Law enforcement teams from multiple agencies surrounded a home in Fremont where a man had barricaded himself after shooting two police officers Wednesday, authorities said.
Around midnight, after about a nine-hour manhunt, authorities said on Twitter they had contained an armed suspect in a home near Washington and Fremont boulevards and were negotiating with the person.
Fremont police spokeswoman Geneva Bosques said an officer was making a routine traffic stop around 1:30 p.m. when a suspect car backed into the police vehicle on Fremont Boulevard, near O'Reilly Auto Parts. Bosques said gunfire was exchanged and the officer was shot and seriously hurt.
The gunman ran away, Bosques said. Officers flocked to the scene and pursued the shooter behind a Safeway near the 1300 block of Roberts Avenue.
"We believe officers encountered the suspects again on Roberts Avenue," Bosques said.
Police again traded fire with the gunman and a second officer was wounded.
The two injured officers were rushed to Regional Medical Center in San Jose, where one was in critical condition and the other was stable, police said.
The more seriously injured officer, a one-year member of the department, was shot once and underwent surgery, according to police. The second officer, who has served 10 years as a detective, was shot twice.
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Fremont police did not release details of the officers' injuries.
Several hundred law enforcement officials in riot gear swarmed the area, including the intersection of Fremont and Washington boulevards, after the suspect apparently jumped a fence to escape.
Moments after the shootings, an employee who works at the Safeway on 3902 Washington Blvd. told NBC Bay Area she saw a man in a bloody shirt running through the store.
Sarbjeet Johal tweeted a video that showed police attending to someone on the ground. Johal told NBC Bay Area a suspect tried to enter Pakwan restaurant on Fremont Boulevard, where he was eating with his kids.
"He tried to jump over the fence, but couldn't; I saw him kicking the fence... it fell down, and he came towards us," Johal recalled. "We quickly ran into the restaurant and closed the doors. He couldn't get in because we were blocking the glass doors. It was scary, especially because there were women and children inside the restaurant."
Johal said the suspect, who was carrying a knife, ran area behind the Safeway, near the loading dock. A little later, Johal saw police officers calling for help, bending over somebody. He then saw the person being sent away in an ambulance.
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office led the search effort, going door-to-door. Drones were also used and neighboring streets were blocked off.
A shelter-in-place order remained in effect late Wednesday, police said. Some residents who were unable to return to their homes were meeting in the parking lot behind the Bean Scene coffee shop, according to a tweet from Fremont police at about 11:45 p.m.
Police have released limited information on the suspect, describing him as possibly a 6-foot-tall Hispanic male with a shaved head, possibly wearing a San Francisco Giants shirt or jersey, gray shorts and black shoes.
Multiple law enforcement agencies — including Hayward, Newark and Union City police as well as the East Bay Regional Parks District — were helping with the investigation.
