San Jose, CA "little Bagdad"?
Three killed in San Jose in single day
By Leslie Griffy and Barbara Feder
Mercury News
Interactive map: 2006 San Jose homicides
Sunday was a particularly deadly day in San Jose as three men, two in their 20s, were fatally shot just a few miles apart. The shooters were still at large late Sunday.
A 21-year-old San Jose man was shot and killed outside an apartment building just after midnight Sunday, another man was shot in the parking lot of an East San Jose supermarket around dinnertime, and a third was shot near Watson Park in north downtown, police said.
Details in the apartment shooting death of Ceazer Anthony Gonzales were sketchy late Sunday, as officers continued to question potential witnesses. Witnesses reported seeing a dark-colored minivan leaving the scene, officer Enrique Garcia said.
About 12:26 a.m. Sunday, someone called 911 to report a shooting near an apartment building in the 1800 block of Evans Lane, according to Garcia. When police arrived, they found Gonzales on the ground, with a single gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene, Garcia said.
The street, near Curtner Avenue and Highway 87, dead-ends on the block where police think the shooting occurred. Two apartment complexes sandwich a mobile home park there.
Fewer details were available on the killing of the second and third men.
The city's second fatal shooting Sunday happened in the parking lot of the Marina Food supermarket at 4140 Monterey Highway. Many shoppers were still at the store when the shooting was reported at 5:44 p.m., and when police arrived, they found the victim dead in the parking lot, said San Jose Police spokesman Sgt. Nick Muyo. He declined to identify the victim until his family could be notified. Muyo said witnesses were able to identify potential suspects and vehicles involved and police were investigating late Sunday.
The third shooting happened around 11:30 p.m. at 23rd and Taylor streets, east of San Jose's Japantown.
The slayings are the city's 24th, 25th and 26th homicides of the year.
Anyone with information on the Gonzales case is asked to call San Jose police detective John Boren or Sgt. Tim Porter at (408) 277-5283. Anyone with information on the Marina Foods shooting is asked to call the the police department's Terry Simpson or Mike Knox, also at (408) 277-5283. Tipsters wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (408) 947-STOP. |
