Homicide Confirmed, Investigation Ongoing into Downtown Garage Death

Published on July 29, 2024

Palo Alto, CA – An autopsy has confirmed that a Palo Alto man died in a downtown garage from blunt force trauma. The suspect remains unidentified and outstanding.   

On Thursday, July 25, 2024, at about 12:15 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a passerby reporting a person down on the first floor of the City parking garage located on the 400 block of Bryant Street. Officers and personnel from the Palo Alto Fire Department responded immediately and located a deceased male adult in his sixties who appeared to be a member of the unhoused community.

Detectives have been treating the case as a suspicious death from the beginning, but an autopsy performed on July 26 by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner has confirmed that the victim died by homicide via blunt force trauma to his head.

Police are continuing to examine all possibilities as to who may be responsible for the victim’s death. As significant developments in this case come to light, we will release additional information in the future.

Police are not releasing the man’s identity; that information can be obtained from the Santa Clara County Office of the Medical Examiner-Coroner

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.  Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.