Fremont police release video, names of officers who killed armed man at Hyatt Hotel
A Fremont police officer shoots Stephen Moseley at the Hyatt Hotel. April 1, 2021
FREMONT, Calif. - Fremont police on Friday released an edited video and the names of the two officers who killed an armed suspect at the Hyatt Place Hotel, acknowledging that they have been involved in three officer-involved shootings this year.
Police Chief Kimberly Petersen identified the officers as Grant Goepp, who has been on the force for six years, and Josh Harvey, an 11-year veteran of the department.
Both officers shot Stephen Patrick Moseley, 36, on April 1 at about 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the hotel in the 3100 block of Warren Avenue.
The video released shows Moseley was armed with a .25-caliber semi-automatic gun, which police said was stolen.
He had the gun in his hand as he fled the hotel.
But the video also shows that when police yelled at him to "Drop the f---ing gun," he was getting severely bitten by a police dog, which the chief acknowledged needs retraining because the animal wouldn't return to its handler when called. She also acknowledged that an electronic caller to retrieve the dog also failed that day.
Video editors circled Moseley's gun and wrote that he pointed it at the officers. But the actual video does not clearly show that.
The video shows that Moseley was curled up in a ball, rolling around on the parking lot surface, trying to avoid getting mauled, with the gun still in his hand.
Petersen said that the total time between Moseley leaving the hotel to him getting shot was 25 seconds.
She added that there had been a de-escalation plan in place, but the officers fired their weapons -- Goepp 7 times and Havey twice -- because they feared for their lives.
"You can see that the officers are intending to go hands-on," she said on the video. "And it isn’t until they recognize that he has a gun that then they start withdrawing, moving to cover, giving him verbal commands. Really they gave him every opportunity to surrender."
Stephen Moseley
The coroner determined that Moseley had been struck and killed by five bullets, Petersen said on the video.
Petersen said that Fremont has been averaging about 20 shootings each year and that a special gun task force has been created to address the rising violence.
That team was at the hotel that evening because they had wanted to arrest Moseley on gun and drug charges.
She said Moseley had a criminal history that included burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, home invasion and a variety of narcotics and firearms possession charges.
When Moseley spotted the police in the parking lot, he ran, prompting a total of 11 officers to arrive at the scene and surround him in the parking lot, the video shows.
Moseley's friend, Jackie, who did not want her last name to be public, said that Moseley was a very smart person and a "deep thinker." She credited him with helping her reunite with her own children and she said the world is a lesser place without him.
She knew he had a gun and she was aware of some of his past, but she said: "You can still be a good person and have a criminal history."
She said that Moseley had a wife and two children.
Fremont police said Stephen Moseley was carrying this stolen gun.
Moseley is the second person whom Fremont police have killed this year.
On March 24, Officer Brian Burchurch fatally shot Joshua Gloria, 34, of Oakland, whom they described as an armed robbery suspect, after a police chase that ended on Highway 84 in Newark.
In the Highway 84 shooting, the California Highway Patrol —which is investigating the highway shooting — said the person had a firearm and was driving a stolen car "associated with an armed robbery" when a Fremont police officer shot them last week.
On Feb. 9, following the pursuit of a stolen vehicle, Fremont police officers Andrew Dennis and Jeffrey Carter shot at a suspect they said fired multiple rounds at them while the officers were running after a group of teenagers who fled the car near the Newark baylands.
However, in this case, neither the suspect nor the officers were hit by gunfire.