A man who allegedly stabbed his 9-year-old son to death in a San Jose park and was subsequently killed by police intended to die via “suicide by cop,” San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph said Monday.
Mateusz Dzierbun of Fremont allegedly killed his son then called 911 posing as a “hysterical” witness to ask that officers be sent to Cataldi Park to save the child, even giving a detailed description of himself as the suspect, Joseph said during a news briefing.
“These officers had no idea that the frenetic person on the line was in fact the suspect himself, a deranged man who had murdered his own son and whose call for help was actually a twisted plan to force officers to shoot him,” Joseph said.
“Officers would later discover that the 9-year-old child they were rushing to save was already deceased, gruesomely stabbed to death by the suspect,” he said. “The child suffered from injuries so severe that it is unimaginable they could have been inflicted by his own father.”
Joseph said officers arrived at the park Sunday at 3:31 p.m. to find Dzierbun, 48, covered in blood, hunched over the body of his son, whose face was covered with a bandana.
Within about three minutes, Dzierbun allegedly stood, brandished the knife over his head and rushed at officers, Joseph said.
At that point an officer with 4 1/2 years on the force and a sergeant with 19 years both opened fire, he said.
Prior to being killed, Dzierbun allegedly made several statements indicating he wanted to be shot by police.
Joseph said investigators haven’t found any mental health issues related to the suspect or any prior criminal record or previous interactions with local police, but are still looking into his past.
Dzierbun moved around the country “quite a bit” and detectives are also working to retrace his steps leading up to the stabbing, for which there is still no known motive.
Joseph said that in his 33 years working as a police officer, he’s rarely, if ever, seen a crime more brutal.
“I don’t ever remember a parent murdering their child so brutally,” he said. “I mean, I don’t remember a lot of homicides period as violent and brutal as this.”
The shooting is being investigated by the San Jose Police Department’s Homicide Unit and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.