Recently released body camera footage showcases a tense encounter between Antioch police and a robbery suspect inside a vehicle. An officer was shot while sitting in the passenger seat during a harrowing high-speed kidnapping.
On February 20 at around 5:16 a.m., police were called to the 4500 block of Lone Tree Way after receiving a 911 call about an active robbery at FoodMaxx, where the caller indicated that at least one individual was armed and making threats.
When officers arrived, the scene had already escalated significantly.
Surveillance captured a black SUV crashing into the store entrance, breaking the glass doors as three men exited the store, one of them armed, attempting to steal alcohol. Fortunately, no employees were harmed.
Within moments, police identified one of the suspects as 23-year-old Dominick D’Souza. Reports indicate that D’Souza rammed his SUV into a police car as officers arrived on the scene.
The situation quickly turned lethal.
As an officer attempted to engage D’Souza, he accelerated, pulling the officer into the vehicle.
The SUV then collided with both a police car and a storefront before careening out of control, with the officer still inside. D’Souza drove recklessly for about two miles with the officer trapped in the passenger seat, despite repeated demands from the police to stop.
Audio from the body camera recorded the escalating tension, with an officer warning, “Stop…I’m going to shoot you if you don’t stop your car.” D’Souza retorted, “I’m going about 10 miles per hour. Put the gun down, I don’t trust you.” He also reportedly said he wouldn’t end up in jail, threatening to crash the vehicle.
Attempts to calm the situation proved futile as D’Souza disregarded commands and sped away. At one point, he supposedly asserted he wasn’t going to jail because he had a family.
Concerned for his life, the officer discharged his weapon, striking D’Souza in the leg.
Following the shot, the SUV crashed into a parked car about three miles from the store. D’Souza then attempted to escape on foot but was located around ten minutes later hiding in some bushes, claiming, “He shot me, he shot me.”
He was taken into custody without any further complications, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries. The officer involved only suffered minor injuries.
Two other suspects made their escape during the initial incident, and no additional information was released about them.
D’Souza now faces a series of charges from the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, including kidnapping, robbery, assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon, burglary, grand theft, and unlawful vehicle possession.
The officers engaged in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol following officer-involved shootings. The Antioch Police Department, along with the District Attorney’s Office, is continuing to investigate the incident under the county’s Law Enforcement-Related Fatality Protocol.
