The San Jose Execution: A Tragedy of Systemic Violence

Illustration by: F. Bonowicz

On January 21 2026, while Mohamed Husien was fleeing for his life from the SJPD, six shots exploded from San Jose Police Department officers’ firearms. The bullets found their home in Mohamed's back. He fell, and as he lay in the middle of the streets time came to a halt. Silence filled the air. 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3 one thousand 4 one thousand. Then, like an off-road vehicle racing to the finish line, a San Jose Police SUV speeds over Mohamed, as if he were nothing more than a speed bump. Mohamed's body is lifted from under the SUV as it passes over him, the momentum propelling him across the street, knocking him out of his jacket. As his lifeless body came to a rest, 6-10 San Jose police officers discharged their guns into his body. Approximately 30 shots went in his direction. His body became a puppet to the bullets that traveled through searching for an exit. His lifeless limbs jolting and jerking, as if there were invisible strings attached directing his limbs to move. The killing was recorded by civilians in the area - different videos from different angels.

This lynching was swept under the rug, as the San Jose Police Department's public statement omitted the fact that he was shot by their department after being run over. 

What occurred in the streets of San Jose, California is something that has been all too common an occurrence for the Black and Brown communities throughout this country and city. Public executions of Black men is as old as this country.

These public lynchings have become commonplace, so much so that society has become desensitized to Black and Brown lives being lynched in public spaces, much like the days when lynching was just a normal part of life. Modern-day lynchings of a similar magnitude also occur unseen and unnoticed throughout courtrooms across this country under the disguise of law and order, crime and punishment. Criminalization has been a justification by those in power to bend, amend, and violate the law. It has been widely accepted by society for law enforcement to act beyond the boundaries of law, as long as they can “say” someone broke the law.  Criminality has been an excuse to erase one's humanity since the first slaves came off the ships to set their feet on the shores of a hostile land. These events have been something that is not new to the black community. 

Pre-Civil Rights Jim Crow’s social rules demanded subservience, such as stepping off sidewalks for whites, avoiding eye contact, or not speaking familiarly, with violations often met by lynching rather than legal process. Cases like 15-year-old Willie James Howard’s 1944 murder in Florida, after giving a white girl an innocent Christmas card, illustrate how minor interactions were framed as deadly threats to white supremacy. These Jim Crow laws that were supposed to be erased from practice, and allegedly abolished still exist today. Remember the names: Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and George Floyd to name a few. Their public executions became every American's reality. 

“Breaking a law” has become a reason to have the death penalty, it has become a term that has been used as justification for law enforcement to be allowed to circumvent the due process guaranteed to us under the United States Constitution, and act as judge, jury and executioner.  

The San Jose Police Department Chief Joseph has said that he will give the use of deadly force case to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. However, the existing relationship that the San Jose Police Department has with the Investigation Department of the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office is compromised, and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has a duty to recuse itself due to the conflict that exists. This conflict is born out of the lead investigator being retired San Jose Police Chief Mata, who as an acting Police Chief did not come out and condemn his officers for shooting a local rising football star K’uan Green who was shot for breaking up a fight. This incident resulted in an 8 million settlement against the city of San Jose, as well as a discovery of a text string that included several officers stating how they hate Black people, and expressing how they were doing him a favor by shooting him.

When brutally killing Mohamed Husien, the San Jose Police Department failed to stand by their number one oath: to preserve life. They demonstrably ignored their training and did not properly go through the escalation of force process.

The punishment of death did not fit the crimes this man allegedly committed. SJPD violated the law when they imposed capital punishment to a Black man on the streets of San Jose.