A Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a Sunnyvale man Tuesday in Saratoga after the man hit him with a 5.5-inch metal spike, the agency said today.
Deputy Aldo Groba, a 14-year veteran with the sheriff's office, fired the shot that fatally wounded 43-year-old Brandon Marshall during the altercation in Saratoga, sheriff's Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup said.
Groba has been placed on routine administrative leave and the district attorney's office is monitoring the sheriff's office's investigation into the deputy-involved shooting, Stenderup said.
At 12:01 p.m. Tuesday, sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the area of Saratoga and McFarland avenues about a report of a distressed or suicidal male, deputies said.
The Santa Clara County Fire Department and county Emergency Medical Services were on the scene when deputies arrived and saw Marshall standing on McFarland Avenue, deputies said.
Marshall became agitated when authorities tried to talk to him and he at one point lunged at Groba with the 5.5-inch metal spike and hit the deputy with it, according to Stenderup.
Groba, who feared for his life, pulled his service firearm and shot Marshall once in the chest, after which Marshall remained combative and had to be restrained before medical personnel could treat him, Stenderup said.
Marshall was taken to a hospital where he was reported in critical condition and later died, deputies said.
A second deputy, an 11-year veteran with the sheriff's office, was injured in the incident and was treated and released, Stenderup said.
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