Looting call leads to 3rd shooting involving Hayward police
Hayward officers shoot, injure suspect; third officer-involved shooting in 12 days
Hayward police injured a suspect early Monday morning when they shot a man as they were responding to a call of looting at a CVS. The man was treated at the hospital and arrested in the department's third officer-involved shooting since May 20.
HAYWARD, Calif. - The Hayward Police Department is now investigating its third officer-involved shooting in just 12 days.
Civil rights attorney Adante Pointer says this cluster is a red flag that can't be ignored.
"Anytime you have a rash of police shootings, in particular at one department, it should be cause for concern," Pointer said.
The latest incident happened at about 4 a.m. Monday as officers responded to looting at the CVS Pharmacy at Harder Road and Mission Boulevard.
As Hayward police arrived at the drug store, several cars rushed out of the parking lot.
Moments later, an officer reported that shots had been fired by police.
The department has not said what led up to the shooting, but confirmed that no officers were hurt.
Police later found a male suspect in some bushes with a gunshot wound to his back. He was treated at a hospital, released and taken into custody.
Police arrested three other suspects in connection with Hayward's third police shooting since May 20.
"Very few police officers actually have to wind up using their guns in the course of an entire career, 20, 30 years," Pointer said. "And to see it happen three times in such a short amount of time, typically that means that there's a problem."
The shooting comes less than a week after Hayward police officers shot and wounded a 61-year man who they say lunged at them with a knife.
And a week before that, police shot and killed a suspect accused of fatally shooting a 65-year-old homeless man.
"The officers in both of those situations were reacting to a life threatening situation that faced them," said Nicole Pifari, an attorney representing the Hayward officers involved in the first two shootings.
Pifari said the recent spike means one thing.
"Officers in Hayward, as officers are all over the Bay Area, are dealing with an increased level of violent crime that they're trying to keep a lid on," Pifari said,
Hayward, like the rest of Alameda County, is under a curfew order beginning at 8 p.m. Monday until 5 a.m. each morning. The curfew could last for the entire week.