A man wielding a knife was fatally shot by Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies following a traffic stop turned standoff in San Jose on Monday evening. The San Jose Police Department and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office jointly investigate the incident. The Sheriff's Office issued a statement saying that deputies made numerous attempts to slowly de-escalate the situation and bring it to a peaceful resolution, but were forced to use less-lethal tools before ultimately discharging their weapons. This account was detailed on the Santa Clara County Sheriff's.
During the standoff, which began around 7:28 PM near the intersection of Fruitdale Avenue and Leigh Avenue, the man reportedly refused to follow deputies' commands and barricaded himself inside his vehicle. A Sheriff’s Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT) was called to manage the crisis better. The incident escalated when the man emerged from the car with a knife and charged the deputies, leading to at least one officer shooting the individual, as noted in a social media post from Henry K. Lee.
Man w/knife shot and killed by @SCCoSheriff during traffic stop near Leigh & Fruitdale in San Jose, per @SanJosePD, investigating w/#SantaClaraDA pic.twitter.com/8Z3HCJjHbB
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) October 28, 2025
"Our personnel utilized every available resource to de-escalate the encounter safely and effectively in hopes of a peaceful resolution," Santa Clara County Sheriff Robert Jonsen said, per the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. Deputies provided immediate life-saving efforts before paramedics, staged nearby, could arrive. Despite their efforts, the man was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
