A San Jose police officer who resigned in November when his racist text messages surfaced — including one threatening to shoot a Black attorney — also had a large stockpile of weapons seized by authorities due to a gun violence restraining order against him, the Mercury News has learned.
Mark McNamara, who joined the SJPD in 2017, cannot access his 18 firearms until May 2024, according to court documents filed in November. The confiscation of his weapons was initiated amid an ongoing civil lawsuit against the city over a controversial shooting where McNamara wounded a man at a downtown San Jose taqueria in 2022.
The text that sparked the restraining order was directed at Adanté Pointer — the lawyer representing shooting victim K’aun Green in the lawsuit — and was sent to a former SJPD officer and another who is on administrative leave because of the messages. The names of the recipients of McNamara’s messages haven’t been released.
“The other day this n— lawyer is like Mr. McNamara, you know we can still find you guilty of excessive force right? I’m like, hmmm yeah then (what) happens?? … Think I give a f— what y’all n— think?!???? I’ll shoot you too!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!,” McNamara wrote.
Pointer did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the police department confirmed the restraining order against McNamara but didn’t comment further.
Rev. Jethroe Moore, president of the local NAACP chapter, said the threat against Pointer “is not a joke, and is an extreme hazard to him and his family.”
“Anyone with power or authority who abuses it needs to be stripped (of it),” he said in an interview on Thursday. “Clearly, there’s something mentally unstable there. Because gun violence is not a laughing matter.”
McNamara’s texts, which came to light on Nov. 3, included messages that said “I hate Black people” and made light of shooting Green. McNamara shot Green, who is Black, at La Victoria taqueria after Green appeared to stop a fight outside of the restaurant. Green disarmed one of the people involved in the fight and was holding the firearm when McNamara shot him.
“N— wanted to carry a gun in the Wild West … Not on my watch,” read one of the messages, sent a day after the March 27, 2022 incident.
In a follow-up message, McNamara wrote about Green: “They should all be bowing to me and bringing me gifts since I saved a fellow n— by making him rich as f—. Otherwise, he woulda lived a life of poverty and crime.”
The messages were discovered during an investigation into McNamara about an unrelated criminal matter, the details of which haven’t been released. SJPD Chief Anthony Mata called the texts “disgusting” and “horrible,” while Mayor Matt Mahan called the correspondences “vile” and said the “language and conduct does not represent the many officers in our department who work everyday to keep us all safe.”
Shortly after the messages were released, the city recused itself from representing McNamara in the civil lawsuit. McNamara is now being represented by Susan Coleman, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McNamara resigned from the department on Nov. 1, two days before the text messages were released.
Court documents show the restraining order was ordered on Nov. 6.
Authorities seized 10 rifles, four shotguns and four pistols, along with an unstated amount of ammunition. An agreement was reached with the city attorney’s office that will allow McNamara to retrieve his weapons on May 27, 2024. Gun-violence restraining orders prohibit individuals from owning or purchasing new firearms for a specific amount of time. The prohibition can last anywhere from a number of months to a couple of years and is meant to serve as a way to prevent an individual from hurting themselves or others with a firearm.
In response to the incident, SJPD also submitted paperwork for McNamara to be decertified as a police officer, a new process that seeks to hold law enforcement accountable by stripping them of their ability to work in the profession.
Members of the South Bay Black community have called for all criminal charges against individuals stemming from any interactions with McNamara to be dropped. The Santa Clara County’s Public Defender’s Office is currently reviewing a case unrelated to the 2022 taqueria incident. Karina Alvarez, the attorney overseeing the review, did not respond to a request for comment.
