'I just need somewhere to be:' witness describes moments before Stockton police shooting

A 34-year-old man fatally shot by Stockton police Monday night appeared unwell in the minutes before the shooting. He'd just broken into an empty motel room near the scene, a witness said.

Late Monday evening, Anita Hensley was working at the front desk of the Red Roof Inn on Fremont Street when she heard "this muffled kind of a thump" overhead.

"I look at the (security) camera and see him ramming his body ... into the door" of a room on the third floor, which was vacant, Hensley said.

Officials have not yet released the 34-year-old's name. He is the third person to be fatally shot by Stockton police this year.

Exiting the front office, Hensley said she "yelled up the stairwell, 'hey, I'm calling the cops right now,' hoping he would respond."

The Record was unable to view security camera footage to corroborate Hensley's account.

The employee hesitated to go speak with the man herself, she said, due to violent incidents that have occurred around the motel in the recent past.

Last February, 15-year-old Jordan Ameral was shot to death near the motel, and an 18-year-old was injured in the shooting. Hensley claims she was also attacked last year by a woman staying at the inn.

Monday evening, as Hensley watched the security camera feed on the motel's computer, she saw that two men staying at the motel were speaking with the person banging on the door. She decided to go upstairs.

When she arrived, "(the man) was just so sweaty, bleeding," she said. "He was bleeding all over the place, and he just seemed like he was kind of, (I'd) use the word brooding."

His unhappy demeanor turned to paranoia.

"I just need somewhere to be. I just need somewhere to be," he kept repeating, according to Hensley.

The man was wearing a dark hoodie, jeans with white creases on the back, and a backpack, she said.

He appeared to have broken the window of the empty room, and pulled the metal window frame out, Hensley said. Two guests at the inn said they heard the sound of breaking glass around the time of the incident.

The man was climbing back out the window when Hensley arrived.

"He didn't perceive us as a threat," she said.

At some point, "he pulled up his shirt, that's when I could see under his waistband, I could see this weapon" stuck down one of his pant legs, Hensley said.

"I know nothing about guns ... it wasn't like a regular rifle or gun that I've ever seen," she said. It later turned out to be a replica firearm, according to police.

The last Hensley saw of the man, he ran down the motel stairs and toward the street.

Minutes later, police found the man hiding behind a concrete pillar beneath the Interstate 5 overpass at Fremont Street and Pershing Avenue, according to a statement.

Police claim he "refused to comply with officers' commands," and pulled the replica firearm from his pants.

That's when officer Marcos Alonso shot him, police said. Alonso is a member of the Field Operations Division and has worked at the department since 2021, police said.

Alonso was also involved in a previous police shooting in January, in which five officers shot and killed 33-year-old Rico Ruiz-Altamirano in north Stockton.

Alonso is on paid administrative leave while police and the California Department of Justice investigate the shooting. Alonso will likely be required to complete therapy before returning to the force.

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers public safety. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record athttps://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Red Roof Inn witness describes moments before Stockton police shooting