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WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KRON) — A 46-year-old Walnut Creek man who was reported to police for looking into homes and parked cars with a flashlight just after midnight Thursday morning was shot and killed by responding officers. The Walnut Creek Police Department said the man was holding what appeared to be a firearm, which was later determined to be a pellet gun.
The fatal police shooting occurred around 12:10 a.m. near Buena Vista Elementary School. Authorities said the officers gave multiple commands for the man to drop his weapon in the area of Buena Vista and Alvarado avenues before police discharged their firearms. Neighbors told KRON4 that they heard four gunshots.
Despite immediate life-saving measures, the man was pronounced deceased at the scene. No officers were injured during the incident.
The man’s mother, Annie Pereya, spoke to KRON4 News following the fatal shooting and identified her son as Joaquin Anthony “Tony” Pereya. Annie said that her son has had a lifetime of mental illness and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the fifth grade.
Photo of Joaquin Anthony “Tony” Pereya, courtesy of family
“I live right up the street; Probably he was heading towards our house,” Annie told KRON4. “They’ve told me that he had a gun and pointed a gun at a police officer and they fired at him.”
Tony’s mother said she believes that he was not on his medication at the time and that she and her husband have lived in fear because of his mental struggles. She is upset that the state does not force people like Tony and others with severe mental issues to take medication because she said it had helped her son whenever he was on it.
The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office is conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident. The officers involved in the fatal shooting were placed on administrative leave per department policy, police said.
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Ryan Mense and Will Tran
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