In loving memory of Officer Michael Johnson

San Jose Police Department

End of Watch: 3/24/2015

Officer Michael Johnson, age 38 and a 14-year veteran officer, is the first San Jose Police Officer killed in the line of duty in 14 years.

He and other members of the San Jose Police Department were responding to reports of an intoxicated, despondent, and possibly suicidal man in an apartment on Senter Road. As the officers approached the building, a man stepped out onto the balcony and without warning opened fire on them with a high-powered rifle. Officers returned fire, but Johnson had been hit and died at the scene.

Officials evacuated nearby homes and conducted a massive manhunt for the shooter. Hours later, police breached the apartment door with explosives, then searched the apartment with a robot before finding the suspected shooter dead on the apartment balcony with at least one gunshot wound.

Officer Johnson is survived by his wife Nicole.