At around 3 a.m. Sunday, 20-year-old Auckland resident K’aun Green was eating at La Victoria Taqueria with his friend when a separate group started harassing him, lawyer Adante Pointer told KGO on Tuesday. One of the members of the group was in possession of a ghost weapon, KGO said, when a quarrel broke out between the two groups. Green took the gun from the group member and was holding the gun when police arrived at the scene. San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata told a news conference on Tuesday that the victim had been repeatedly called upon to drop his weapon before firing. (Mata did not identify Green or anyone else involved in the dispute during the conference.) But Poinder, in an interview with KGO, disputed that claim – saying Green was retreating as the officer shouted and shot Green “in less than a second.” He added that he and Green were planning to file a lawsuit against the police department. “He is a hero and that is how he should be treated!” Poinder wrote on Twitter on Monday. “He disarmed a man who was threatening people. “He did not deserve to be shot.” (The Pointer office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from SFGATE.) Green was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries to his abdomen, arm and leg. It’s a defensive end for Contra Costa College’s college football team, according to 247Sports. The man who brought the gun to La Victoria was later arrested on suspicion of being a gunman, Mata said on Tuesday. San Jose Mayor Sam Licardo defended himself to police on Tuesday afternoon, shortly before the press conference, writing on Twitter “that this is a tragic confusion of circumstances.” “None of us wants to be the one to decide – in a split second – whether to pull this trigger, but the burden of making that decision falls on the police,” he wrote. A joint investigation into the incident is under way with San Jose police and the Santa Clara County Attorney’s Office, Mata told a news conference. The police officer who shot Green has been working for the San Jose Police Department for four years and is currently on administrative leave. Shots from body cameras will be released 45 days after filming, under California law. The Bay City News Service contributed to this report.
