SUNNYVALE — A police officer who last year fatally shot a man carrying a knife while experiencing a psychiatric disturbance — and who had called 911 on himself — has been cleared of criminal liability in the deadly encounter, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Emmanuel Perez Becerra, 19, was shot and killed by Sunnyvale police in March 2024 after he called 911 on himself. Police said he was holding a knife and was shot by an officer who was backing away from Perez. The teen’s family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Sunnyvale, the officer who shot Perez, and others. (Courtesy Pointer & Buelna LLP)
While he faces no criminal prosecution, Officer Kevin Lemos, along with the city of Sunnyvale, is the subject of a federal wrongful death and excessive force lawsuit filed last month by the family of 19-year-old Emmanuel Perez Becerra, who maintain he did not pose a threat when he was killed on March 23, 2024.
A DA report on the shooting was released Friday that cited a witness account in concluding that Lemos had “‘no choice’ but to use lethal force” on an approaching Perez Becerra.
“Officer Lemos reasonably believed he needed to use deadly force against Perez Becerra, such force was necessary, and the amount of force used was reasonable under the circumstances,” prosecutor Rob Baker wrote in the report.
The conclusion echoed what the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said publicly in the wake of the shooting, a finding disputed by Perez Becerra’s family in their ongoing lawsuit.
“At the time of the shots, Emmanuel was not charging, running or making any aggressive motions towards Defendant Lemos who was a safe distance from him,” reads the filing from Bay Area-based law firm Lawyers for the People.
In response to the report, Adante Pointer, one of the family’s attorneys, said the conclusion “is disturbing but is unfortunately expected.”
“Very few prosecutors are willing to hold officers to the same standard of justice as an ordinary citizen,” Pointer said Friday.
Perez Becerra’s family also contends that Lemos failed to properly cycle through less-lethal options available to him, including using his Taser, pepper spray or baton before resorting to his service pistol.
Friday’s report addresses that point, citing an interview with Lemos stating that that the situation escalated from “we have no eyes on somebody” to “now we have a guy with a knife,” and that “things were happening so fast, it didn’t cross my mind” to use his other force options.
On the afternoon of the shooting, Perez Becerra called 911 and requested police to respond to “a naked man walking outside … with a knife,” with police only learning on scene that he was the caller.
That dispatch excerpt was part of a compilation of dispatch audio and video footage — from a police vehicle dashboard, Lemos’ body camera and an eyewitness cell phone — played for reporters a few days after the shooting.
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In the video footage, Lemos and Officer Francis Ngo can be heard giving Perez Becerra repeated commands, in person and through the megaphone systems on their police vehicles, to drop the kitchen knife he was holding, which had a 7-inch blade. About two minutes after initially spotting and then following him, Lemos fired two shots at Perez Becerra, hitting him in the chest.
Footage showed that Perez Becerra did not raise the knife, and was about 10 feet away from Lemos when he was shot.
The DA report offers more of Lemos’ explanation for using deadly force, with the officer stating that Perez Becerra was “wide eyed” and had taken a “running stance,” and that he “felt that if he did not fire his weapon, he would be stabbed.”
The report also cites Perez Becerra’s history of mental illness, which his family has also acknowledged, that includes being diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia a year prior, signs of suicidal ideation, and at least two voluntary and involuntary admissions with county Emergency Psychiatric Services. But the report also states that “any mental illness affecting Perez Becerra was not known to Officer Lemos when he decided to fire his weapon,” and “his mental health condition does not diminish the very real danger that he posed.”
