QCOSTARICA – A man who threatened to kill his father and then take his own life was shot by the police Wednesday morning in downtown San José, on Calle 10, between Avenidas 6 and 8.
Authorities indicated that there was an unsuccessful negotiation and, at a certain point, the man fired at them, so the officers used their regulation weapons to repel the attack.
Deytel Beita Jiménez, chief of operations of the San Jose Municipal Police, said that at the beginning the case was approached as an intra-family situation since a man who was traveling as a companion in a vehicle asked for help from officers who were nearby.
“A gentleman asks the Police for help because his son took a weapon (gun) from his property and threatens to take his and his own life. The officers address the situation, it is a question of negotiating in the first instance, but this person seems to be under the influence of some substance and does not respond to reason.
“In an oversight, the officers take the man out of the car and the subject is left alone in the vehicle, so he is cornered, he flees with his father’s gun and travels in his vehicle a distance of approximately 300 meters, where there was an exchange of gunshots. At a certain point, he turns the gun on the officers, so they have to respond to the situation,” Beita explained.
The police chief added that a municipal officer suffered a fall from his motorcycle while attending to the situation and another officer of the Fuerza Publica (National Police) had a bullet wound in the abdomen. The first was treated at the scene by the Red Cross and the other was transferred by paramedics to the San Juan de Dios Hospital for medical attention.
Hours after the events, the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) identified the deceased as Luis Diego Fernández Valverde, 31, and indicated that he had three gunshot wounds to the chest.
“The preliminary information is that, apparently, the now deceased was arguing with another man in a vehicle. At a certain moment, administrative police officers managed to get this other man out of the car and a discussion ensued, followed by an exchange of shots, so far that is what is known about the case,” the OIJ stated through its press office.
Marcelo Solano, director of the San Jose Municipal Police, stated through his Twitter account that “the skill of the police officers and luck prevented a major tragedy,” this because there was a group of people who ran after the officers to record what was happening with their cell phones.
