PALO ALTO — The police officer who used a Taser while two others fired their pistols during a deadly confrontation with an apparently mentally ill man on Christmas Day has been identified.
The city disclosed the name of the officer, Khalil Tannous, following a public records request.
Tannous has four years of law enforcement experience, 21/2 of them with the Palo Alto Police Department, according to the city.
The officers who fired their pistols were previously identified as Nicholas Enberg, who has five years of experience, and Zachary Wicht, who has 11/2 years of experience.
The three officers have since returned to duty, according to Lt. Zach Perron of the Palo Alto Police Department.
The confrontation between 31-year-old William Raff and the officers unfolded around 9:15 p.m. on Christmas Day when Raff called 911 to report a “false emergency” at Momentum for Mental Health’s La Selva residential treatment program, at 652 Forest Ave., according to police.
The program serves people who are recovering from mental illness, primarily anxiety and depression.
Raff suffered from schizoaffective disorder, according to his father, Gary Raff, and had participated in the program after receiving psychiatric care elsewhere at a more restrictive facility for attempting suicide.
According to police, Raff was waiting in the shadows as the officers arrived. He purportedly brandished a 9-inch metal table knife at them and jumped around erratically. Police said he ignored several commands to drop the knife and suddenly charged at the officers, who opened fire.
The encounter took just 19 seconds, according to police. Raff was shot at least once and later died at Stanford Hospital.
In an interview last month, Perron said the fact that the officers used different types of weapons was consistent with their training.
“If you have multiple officers there, then you want to have different force options available to deal with whatever situation may come up,” he said.
“Unfortunately, in this situation, the actions that our officers ultimately took were driven by the suspect’s behavior. And when he chose to sprint directly at our officers screaming and waving a knife, all three officers had nothing to do except deploy the tools that they had in their hands.”
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is conducting an investigation into the shooting. No update was available this week.
Contact Jason Green at 408-920-5006. Follow him at Twitter.com/jgreendailynews.
