Brandished what appeared to be a knife but determined later to be a sheath
CA Attorney General investigating
By Lt. Donald Patchin, PIO, Richmond Police Department
On Tuesday, February 4, 2025, at 8:13 p.m., officers from the Richmond Police Department responded to the 2700 block of Maine Avenue in an attempt to locate a wanted subject. The subject was wanted on a probation violation warrant related to domestic violence charges.
Officers located the wanted subject on the Union Pacific Railroad right of way just west of the 300 block of Carlson Blvd. The subject refused to cooperate with officers, and a standoff ensued. During the standoff, the suspect wielded an object that appeared to be a knife. The subject ignored multiple commands to drop the object. Officers spent approximately 32 minutes attempting to de-escalate the situation and reach a peaceful resolution.
Despite our officers’ efforts to defuse the situation and end the standoff peacefully, the suspect charged the officers with the object in his hand while raising it in a threatening manner. At approximately 8:53 p.m., an officer-involved shooting occurred, and the wanted subject sustained fatal injuries.
Suspect’s knife sheath discovered later. Photo by Richmond PD
We later determined the object was not a knife. The black knife sheath in the photo is the object the subject wielded, which investigators recovered at the scene.
The Contra Costa Law Enforcement Involved Fatal Protocol, a set of guidelines and procedures followed in cases of officer-involved fatalities, was invoked, and the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office responded to investigate.
We are committed to a thorough, transparent investigation.
Under the requirements of AB 1506, we recognized the California Department of Justice (DOJ) treats this as an “unarmed” officer-involved fatal incident, and we immediately notified them. The DOJ dispatched investigators to the scene to investigate.
We are fully cooperating with the DOJ’s independent investigation. We believe it is important to release information in a transparent manner. We intend to release additional information as soon as the investigation allows.
According to a press release issued on Wednesday, Feb. 5, “California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that the California Department of Justice (DOJ), pursuant to Assembly Bill 1506 (AB 1506), is investigating and will independently review an officer-involved shooting (OIS) that occurred in Richmond, California on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
Following notification by local authorities, DOJ’s California Police Shooting Investigation Team initiated an investigation in accordance with AB 1506 mandates. Upon completion of the investigation, it will be turned over to DOJ’s Special Prosecutions Section within the Criminal Law Division for independent review.
More information on the California Department of Justice’s role and responsibilities under AB 1506 is available here: https://oag.ca.gov/ois-incidents.”
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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