Nightmarish Restaurant Shooting Ends With Gunman Killed By Cops: Bay Area Police

SAN JOSE, CA — Authorities described a violent and chaotic scene Sunday night at a San Jose restaurant, where a man began firing a gun into the ceiling before he was shot dead by officers in a confrontation outside the building.

“The scene of the shooting was truly a nightmare,” Acting Chief of Police Paul Joseph said at a press conference Monday afternoon streamed live on Instagram.

Joseph identified the gunman as Roberto Rivera, 50, of San Jose.

Police received multiple calls shortly before 9:30 p.m. in the 4200 block of Senter Road reporting that Rivera had been shooting into the ceiling of a restaurant before moving outside, where he continued to fire into the air and shot a man in the parking lot, seemingly at random, according to Joseph. The only restaurant in that area is Catracho.

Officers found Rivera near his vehicle with a stolen 45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and ordered him to drop the weapon, Joseph said. Instead Rivera pointed the gun at the officers and four of them fired shots at him, according to Joseph.

Rivera was taken into custody and to a hospital, where he died, police said.

He had been estranged from his family, was drinking heavily and made comments indicating he was experiencing suicidal ideation, according to Joseph, who said Rivera appeared to be seeking a confrontation with police. His criminal history was minimal, Joseph said.

The man Rivera shot suffered life-threatening injuries and had been taken to a hospital before police arrived, according to Joseph. The man was in critical but stable condition as of Monday afternoon, police said.

No officers were injured, police said. Those who fired at Rivera had between three and seven years of experience and all had their body cameras activated at the time of the shooting, according to Joseph, who said an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Sunday marked San Jose’s fourth officer-involved shooting of 2024 and the first to result in a fatality this year, Joseph said.

He addressed the challenges posed by ease of access to guns in the city and described the responding officers Sunday as courageous and selfless.

“The sound of gunfire has become a tragically common event,” he said.