Colby Friday, 30

Stockton, California
August 16, 2016

Agencies: Stockton Police Department California | San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office California | State Department of Justice California

Cause of death: Shooting

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Overview

30 year-old Colby Friday was shot and killed by police after a foot chase and a confrontation in which the officer feared for his life, according to police.

The Police Department said he was a 30-year-old black man and a documented gang member with prior arrests for robbery, weapons possession and resisting arrest.

The deadly shooting occurred about 2 p.m. along Jamestown Street between Sousa Street and Kentfield Road, just west of Weberstown Park. According to police, an officer was investigating a robbery in the area when he spotted a man who matched the description of the robbery suspect. When the officer approached the man to make contact, the man fled on foot and pulled out a firearm, said Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Police Department.

The officer chased the man, noticed the suspect was armed and gave unspecified verbal commands, Silva said. At some point, the suspect stopped running and engaged in a confrontation with the officer, but Silva could not describe the nature of that confrontation. According to police, the officer, fearing for his safety and the safety of others, fired his weapon, striking the suspect.

Witnesses said the suspect was shot multiple times in the chest or back in a paved area just inside an iron fence behind Peña’s Supermarket, Carniceria and Taqueria, directly across the street from a large apartment complex. Medics were seen performing CPR before the man was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Silva said there was no indication that the man fired his weapon. He could not immediately say whether the suspect pointed it at the officer during the confrontation or whether he was shot from behind while attempting to flee. Silva explained that those details would be made available following an interview with the officer, who had already been taken to the Police Department’s Investigations Unit for questioning as part of a standard multiagency protocol investigation.

Silva said the officer, like all Stockton police officers, was wearing his department-issued body camera, but police did not release the footage. “Any video evidence obtained from this incident will become part of the protocol investigation,” Silva said. “That video wouldn't be released during the investigation.” This was the fourth shooting in 2016 involving Stockton police officers.

Legal Action

The Stockton police officer who shot Friday to death was cleared of wrongdoing following an investigation conducted by the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, the Stockton Police Department and two other law enforcement agencies.

Community and Family Efforts

September 2016 Family want answers protest

February 2017 City Hall Meeting