SAN JOSE — A San Jose officer involved in a controversial police shooting at a downtown taqueria last year — in which the wounded man broke up a fight and had disarmed a gunman before he was shot — has resigned over the discovery of racist text messages he wrote, including some making light of the shooting and one that said “I hate Black people.”
Mark McNamara, who joined the San Jose Police Department in 2017, resigned earlier this week in after being notified of a probe into his offensive messages, Police Chief Anthony Mata told this news organization Friday.
Mata said McNamara was being investigated by the department’s internal affairs unit for an unrelated criminal matter, which led to the revelation that the now-former officer “had sent disgusting text messages that demonstrated racial bias.”
“I don’t stand for this. It’s disgusting and horrible that we have an officer that thinks that way,” Mata said. “All this information came to light this week … I wanted to get this information out to the public so they understand that as chief, I’m committed to rid people and employees who act in this manner.”
A dossier of text messages investigated by the department appear to show McNamara talking to two unnamed recipients — described only as one active department employee and a former department employee — and at some point, referencing the March 27, 2022 shooting of K’aun Green.
McNamara shot and wounded Green, who is Black, after Green appeared to have quelled a fight that broke out inside the La Victoria taqueria near San Jose State University. Green disarmed one of the people in the fight, and was backing out of the front door, holding the confiscated handgun in the air, when he was shot.
In a text message dated the day after the shooting, McNamara appears to refer to Green: “N—- wanted to carry a gun in the Wild West … Not on my watch.”
Other messages from late June appear to have been sent while McNamara was being interviewed by the City Attorney’s Office and Green’s legal team, which sued the city over the shooting.
“I finally had to tell this city attorney what’s what,” one text reads. “I’m like dude, I don’t give a shit about this case. I’m white, he’s black, he’s gonna win. AND I DONT CARE. It’s a b—- whatever they decide has no bearing on me what so ever. It’s basically kangaroo court.”
Another message around the same time appears to disparage Green and his attorney: “The other day this n— lawyer is like Mr McNamara, you know we can still find you guilty of excessive force right? I’m like, hmmm yeah then (what) happens?? … Think I give a f—- what y’all n—- think?!???? I’ll shoot you to!!!!! (sic) AHHHHHH!!!!!”
In a subsequent message, McNamara said of Green’s legal team: “They should all be bowing to me and bringing me gifts since I saved a fellow n—- by making him rich as f—. Otherwise, he woulda lived a life of poverty and crime.”
Green’s attorney could not immediately reached Friday evening.
McNamara resigned from the department Wednesday. Mata said the text messages being investigated were made to one former department officer and one current officer, and that the latter was placed on administrative leave Thursday.
Mata said he was prohibited from speaking further about the officer on leave, but said the officer’s participation in the text exchange was “not as egregious” as what McNamara wrote, but was nonetheless “concerning.”
Rev. Jethroe Moore, president of the San Jose-Silicon Valley NAACP, said the news left him “shivering” in disgust, and thinking about past racism controversies with the department.
“I believe this officer committed a hate crime. He seemed to be gloating over and nonchalant about” the shooting, Moore said. “He should be decertified as soon as possible.”
The city’s reaction to the controversy was swift Friday evening. In a statement, Mayor Matt Mahan said “there is nothing more sickening than a person in power abusing their position.”
“I will sleep better tonight knowing that this individual is no longer carrying a badge and a gun. Assuming these allegations are upheld, he should face the full consequences of his actions,” the statement reads.
Mahan lauded Mata and the department for disclosing the scandal “in the spirit of full transparency.” Mata said in an interview that was a concerted effort: “This is the fastest disclosure we’ve provided as a department for misconduct.”
San Jose Police Officers’ Association President Steve Slack said the text message investigation “is a disconcerting reminder that not everyone has the moral compass necessary to be in the law enforcement profession … This behavior is beyond unacceptable, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
The chief, mayor and police union all emphasized that McNamara’s actions should not taint the rest of the police department, with Slack saying “it is not a reflection of those of us who serve with honor and who treat every member of our community with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
Scandals over racist text exchanges among police officers have steadily surfaced over the past few years in the Bay Area, including the police departments in San Francisco, Antioch and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. They were all characterized by what appeared to be wide permissiveness among the text recipients.
In the Antioch case, the texts contained disparaging messages about Black people and even joked about violence against the city’s mayor, who his Black. In the sheriff’s office case, the deputy union president and the correctional officer union president were ensnared in a trove of messages containing racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic slurs, as well as images of swastikas and Ku Klux Klan members.
San Jose police experienced its own recent scandal when, in the midst of the George Floyd demonstrations in 2020, a Facebook page of current and former officers was brought to light in which members made racist and Islamophobic comments, joked about harassing Muslim people and insulted the Black Lives Matter protesters. The fallout included one officer who was terminated — but got his job back in arbitration — and another officer who was issued a suspension.
McNamara gained a higher public profile than the average rank-and-file officer after the shooting of Green. San Jose police officers were examining the scene of a homicide less than a block away when they were alerted to the sight of people fleeing from the restaurant and at least one mention of a gun sighting.
Security video released last year showed a man appearing to start a fight with Green by throwing a punch at the former McClymonds High School star quarterback. Green then rushed the man and took him to the ground before landing several punches to his head.
Seconds later, a second man, who police identified as 30-year-old Bryan Carter, brandishes a handgun, but Green’s friend wrapped up Carter and attempted to take control of the weapon. Green then got up and helped his friend take the handgun away from Carter, with Green taking sole possession of the firearm.
At one point, the magazine of the handgun fell to the ground, and Green could be seen loading it back into the gun. At some point the fight subsided, and Green walked backward toward the front door as Carter and the man who Green fought kept walking after him, seeming to grab at the handgun, which Green was holding up in the air in his left hand.
McNamara was at the front of a contingent of officers approaching the taqueria entrance. Security footage shows McNamara and other officers yelling at Green to drop the gun. Green had his back to the officers as he exited and was trying to fend off the two men trying to retake the gun, the footage shows.
Green turned slightly toward the officers and it appeared that once he recognized them he showed his hands, but by that point McNamara fired four shots in quick succession.
Police later said that at the time the shots were fired, officers had no way of discerning that Green was a peacemaker and were reacting solely to the sight of the gun and him not releasing it. Green and his attorney contend that he had no opportunity to comply before he was shot.