By Tim StellohNBC
News
A former high school football champion whose attorney said he disarmed a man during a fight at a California restaurant was shot multiple times by police, leaving him hospitalized.
Lawyer Adante Pointer called K'aun Green, 20, a "hero" who prevented a shooting inside La Victoria restaurant early on Sunday, March 27, before a San Jose police officer opened fire. , injuring Green.
"Police yelled, 'Drop the gun,' and without giving my client a second to understand it was the authorities, or to turn around and see what was happening, or even to drop the gun,
they shot him multiple times." , Pointer told the NBC News affiliate in the Bay Area.
Green was shot in the abdomen and leg and twice in the arm, Pointer said.
The young K'aun Green of 20 years. Adante Pointer
San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata said Tuesday that Green did not respond to repeated commands to drop the gun, which he described as a "ghost gun," as he walked out the front door of the restaurant.
Mata said the shooting occurred about a block away from the scene of a homicide involving a gun.
Fleeing patrons told officers a fight with a firearm was taking place inside the restaurant, and police believed an active shooter was in progress or about to take place.
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Surveillance video of the restaurant shown by authorities captured a chaotic situation, with several people punching each other and struggling on the floor.
During the dispute, the gun "changed possession more than once," Mata said.
"Back, not even to gain momentum."
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Pointer claimed that Green had been "minding his own business"
and did not know the people involved in the fight.
As the restaurant was being cleared, surveillance video shows the young man trying to grab the gun from the others.
A video recorded by a bystander that Pointer said captured the shooting shows several officers walking up a short stairway in front of La Victoria.
The door can be seen opening and Green appears to come out of it.
A still photo from police body camera video released by authorities showed Green holding the gun in his left hand.
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In the video, approximately four seconds pass between Green opening the door and the officer firing.
The recording is made remotely, and the police are not heard ordering Green to drop the gun.
K'aun Green in the hospital Adante Pointer
"The officer knew that less than a block from the homicide, a man with a gun inside a crowded restaurant got into a fight," Mata said, adding, "The officer knew that the individual who had the gun was not he released her when given clear orders. The officer did not know who had brought the gun to the restaurant."
Investigators later discovered that the gun belonged to another individual, Mata said.
The person who initially held her was taken into custody on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, she said.
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Mata said the officer, a four-year veteran of the department, has been placed on routine administrative leave while the shooting is investigated.
A "community briefing" with body camera video and other footage will be released in the coming weeks.
Pointer added that authorities kept Green handcuffed to the hospital bed and denied his family access until he was declared a suspect "days" after the shooting.
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"Hearing and then seeing the police press conference where they
didn't just admit they shot the wrong man
was very frustrating for him," Pointer said in an email.
A San Jose police spokesman declined to comment, citing "pending" litigation.
The lawyer assured that he plans to sue the Department
but that he has not yet done so.
Green was a three-time state champion in football at McClymonds High School in Oakland and plays
linebacker
for Contra Costa College, Pointer said.
According to the school's athletics program, he earned first-team PAC-7 conference honors during the 2021 season.
Pointer stated that the player "remains optimistic that he will return to the sport he loves: football."
