By Mike Martinez
Inside Bay Area
TRACY — Police officers, responding to calls of a suspicious person in the industrial area in northeast Tracy, fatally shot a man after he brandished what appeared to be a handgun.
Tracy police are investigating the shooting according to the San Joaquin County Officer Involved Protocol, and the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office has been notified, Tracy Police Chief David Krauss said.
“Their investigators took the lead in investigating the shooting,” Krauss said. “We’re also going to conduct an administrative and civil investigation in the coming days and weeks.”
Shortly after 11:08 p.m., Tracy police were summoned to the 1700 block of North Chrisman Road after a man was spotted trespassing at a construction site. Officers contacted the man, who city officials said became uncooperative before running away and being chased by officers.
The man, identified as James Anthony Peracchi, 34, of Tracy apparently fell into a drainage ditch and shouted to the officers that he had a gun, city officials said. When the man reached for the weapon in his waistband, which was later determined to be a replica semiautomatic pistol, officers responded “with several rounds” and struck the suspect at least once, according to police.
He was declared dead at the scene a short time later.
The security guard who reported the trespasser witnessed the events after following Peracchi until police arrived, and he confirmed the officer’s account, Matt Robinson, a spokesman for the city, said.
An official cause of death was still pending but Peracchi suffered “multiple gunshot wounds,” according to a spokesman for the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s office said.
Peracchi had previous run-ins with the law, including resisting arrest and spousal abuse, according to San Joaquin County court records, which spell his name as “Perachhi.”
On May 15, 2006, he pleaded guilty to a battery charge and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, according to court documents.
The officers, whose names haven’t been released, are being placed on administrative leave during the investigation of the incident, Robinson said.
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