| Posted on Tue, Oct. 21, 2003 |   |
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Neighbor: S.J. officer shot woman 3 seconds after entering home
Mercury News
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A San Jose policeman fatally shot Bich Cau Thi Tran three seconds after entering her home, a neighbor testified today in the opening day of a grand jury hearing that will determine whether the officer should be charged for her death.
The testimony of Joy Tamez, who asked a friend to call police after seeing Tran acting strangely, suggested a shorter time frame for the July 13 shooting between when police entered the home and when Tran was shot.
Police have said two officers were inside the home for closer to a minute, and that they repeatedly told Tran to drop what they thought was a cleaver. They said Officer Chad Marshall fired a single shot when Tran raised the kitchen tool -- which turned out to be an Asian-style vegetable peeler -- as if to throw it at him.
Tamez, who was standing across the street and looking through Tran's open front door, said she could not recall for sure whether an officer told Tran to drop anything. All she remembered an officer saying was ``Hey, hey, hey!'' at the screaming Tran, and then a gunshot.
``There was yelling, and then pow!'' Tamez said. ``It was very, very fast.''
Tamez initially told the grand jury that the officer fired after six seconds inside the home. When Deputy District Attorney Dan Nishigaya reminded her she had earlier told an investigator three seconds and asked her to clarify, she said three seconds was her best recollection.
Andrew Schwartz, an attorney representing Tran's family, said outside the courtroom that officers could not have given Tran much warning before firing in three seconds.
``Three seconds, that's all you need to know,'' Schwartz said. ``I don't think the officer could have done all the prosecutor said he did over that period of time.''
