The door of La Victoria Taqueria swung open in the dead of night, and K’aun Green stepped backward into the chaos outside. It was March 27, 2022, around 3 a.m. in downtown San Jose. Green, a 20-year-old college football player, held a gun he’d just wrestled away from a man inside. His hands were up, the weapon pointed down. But police lights flashed, officers shouted, and in seconds, shots rang out.
The trouble started simple. Green was grabbing late-night food with a friend after a night out near San Jose State University. A group nearby turned hostile, words flew, and fists followed. Then one man, Bryan Carter, pulled an unserialized ghost gun.
A tweet from X.
Green jumped in. “I saw the gun and knew I had to act,” Green later told reporters, as reported by KTVU. Surveillance video backs it up: He and his friend fought off the attackers, and Green grabbed the weapon, stopping any shots from being fired. No one inside got hurt because of his move.
As the fight spilled toward the door, Green backed out slowly, keeping the gun secure but away from threats.
Outside, San Jose police were already on edge. They’d just come from a nearby homicide scene a stabbing blocks away and got calls about a man with a gun at the taqueria. Officers drew weapons, ready for trouble.
Bodycam footage shows the moment Green emerged. “Drop the gun!” officers yelled. Green, hands visible and raised, started to comply. But Officer Mark McNamara, closest at about five feet, fired four rounds in under five seconds. Bullets hit Green’s abdomen, left arm, and left knee.
Green dropped hard.
“It felt like my life was over,”
He said in a statement through his attorney, Adante Pointer, per Mercury News. He survived, but needed multiple surgeries. Miraculously, no major organs or bones took permanent damage.
San Jose Police released the full bodycam and surveillance footage in May 2022. It tells the story clear: Green disarmed the threat inside, exited surrendering, and got shot anyway. Police first called it a response to an armed suspect. But the videos shifted that narrative.
Green spent days handcuffed to his hospital bed, treated like a suspect. Family couldn’t see him right away. Cleared quickly, he sued in federal court for excessive force, violating his rights.
The case heated up in 2023. McNamara resigned after racist texts surfaced messages hating on Black people, some mocking Green directly.
“That added a whole layer to why this happened,”
Pointer said in a KTVU interview.
Judges denied McNamara qualified immunity. A federal ruling in 2024, upheld by the 9th Circuit in September 2025, said a jury could find the shooting unconstitutional. Green appeared to surrender, per the evidence.
By December 2025, San Jose officials recommended an $8 million settlement one of the city’s biggest for police misconduct. The City Council vote comes in January 2026.
“This payout reflects the pain and the bias involved,”
Pointer noted in recent statements to The State.
Green, now 24, bounced back strong. He plays defensive end at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, an HBCU, with a full scholarship.
“Football kept me going,”
He shared with HBCU Sports. He’s on track to graduate, first in his family.
This story fits into America’s tough talks on police force and bias. Civilians like Green risk everything to stop violence, only to face split-second decisions from cops. Full videos and court wins push for better training, but change comes slow. Cases like this keep the pressure on.
