The Sunnyvale police department released footage on Friday of a fatal police shooting that occurred last weekend.
The footage shows two officers responding to a call of a naked man walking around with a knife on the afternoon of Saturday, March 23. The man in question, Emmanuel Perez Becerra, 19, appears to have called the police on himself and pretended to be a concerned bystander while on the phone with a dispatcher. On the call, Perez Becerra described seeing a man running around with a knife and showing it to people. He then remained on the phone with the dispatcher as the officers arrived.
The footage was released as part of the ongoing investigation into the shooting and appeared to confirm original reports of what happened.
Arriving officers made contact with Perez Becerra at the mobile home park in the Plaza Del Rey community, near the intersection of Highways 101 and 237, where he lived with his family. At the time, he was wearing only a sweater and holding a kitchen knife in one hand. Officers are heard on the video repeatedly asking him to drop the knife, and at first, he walks away from them. A minute later, he is seen turning around and walking toward one of the officers.
That officer, Kevin Lemos, again is heard asking Perez Becerra to drop the knife and stop where he is. When Perez Becerra doesn’t comply, Lemos is seen shooting twice. Both shots hit Perez Becerra. He later died at a nearby hospital.
From the first command to the shooting, the encounter lasted less than two minutes.
Police Chief Phan Ngo said during a Friday press conference that the two officers involved are on administrative leave, and the department is investigating the incident alongside the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office.
“This is a difficult situation for everyone involved and affected. The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety takes any loss of life very seriously,” Ngo said.
The chief acknowledged that officers are issued nonlethal tools, including batons, tasers and what is commonly called pepper spray, but declined to make any statements on whether he thought the shooting was appropriate or in line with protocol, citing the ongoing investigation.
“The primary officer who discharged his firearm was backing away from the subject to try to create a distance from himself and the subject. So there was de-escalation by the officers,” Ngo said.
Chief Ngo added that Sunnyvale police had encountered Perez Becerra twice before: first in 2021, when he was a victim of a crime, and again in 2022, which Ngo described as “a noncriminal contact with him.”
Perez Becerra’s cousin, Jonathan Perez, said his younger cousin, Emmanuel, had been struggling with his mental health. Emmanuel was in high school when shelter-in-place orders began, and Jonathan said he noticed a change in him during that time.
“While he was already working with peers and health care providers to manage his mental health, he was never one to shy away from asking for help,” Perez said. “It’s a tremendous loss, and there’s a lot of trauma that many are still at a loss for words to process.”
Perez said he bonded with his cousin over long-distance cycling in recent years.
“We loved exploring the local trails. We loved visiting local open spaces. He was a very kind individual and would always find opportunities to share moments with family,” Perez said.
The family set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses. There, they describe the 19-year-old as “known for his gentle nature and kind heart, [he] never posed a threat or displayed aggression towards anyone.”
The funeral is being planned for the first weekend in April, according to Perez.