STOCKTON- Last night on March 31st at approximately 9:55 pm, officers arrived to Feather River Drive in front of Claudia Landeen Elementary School to the report of a shooting. According to SPD a call was placed to dispatch by a person who said they saw a suspect described as a white male adult, wearing camouflage,and armed with a rifle who had just shot someone. When officers arrived that white male adult dressed in camouflage brandished and reportedly raised it at the officers. According to a statement released by SPD:
“ Three Stockton police officers then fired their duty weapons shooting the man. The man was transported to an area hospital for treatment and was listed in stable condition. After further examination of the rifle, it turned out to be a BB gun rifle. Officers searched the area for a shooting victim and did not locate anyone.
Due to this being an officer-involved-shooting, a multi-agency critical incident investigation was initiated.
The preliminary investigation has indicated that the reporting party who originally called to report this incident to law enforcement was the actual suspect dressed in camouflage and armed with the BB gun rifle. It appeared he wanted a confrontation with officers. Once medically cleared from the hospital, he will be booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on brandishing charges and falsely reporting a crime.
Suspect: Austin Berkley, 26, of Stockton.
Suspect’s Weapon Recovered: BB gun rifle.
Involved Officers: Officer Dario Duenas, hired in February 2014, assigned to the Field Operations Division; Officer Nariya Jean, hired in September 2013, assigned to the Field Operations Division; and Officer James Lennert, hired in February 2017, assigned to the Field Operations Division. All three officers were uninjured and will be placed on three day paid administrative leave.
This remains an active investigation”.
