hree days after a brash, early evening shooting in the middle of
a Gilroy apartment complex home to dozens of families, startled
residents say they’re hoping it’s not a sign of things to come.
Three days after a brash, early evening shooting in the middle of a Gilroy apartment complex home to dozens of families, startled residents say they’re hoping it’s not a sign of things to come.
Police arrested two men they say are Norteno gang members and a 15-year-old juvenile Friday after gunshots echoed through the MonteBello Ridge Apartments, located at the corner of Monte Bello Drive and Wren Avenue, according to the Gilroy Police Department.
“I jumped up to my window to see what was going on,” recalled one wide-eyed resident Monday morning who didn’t want to give his name. The man first thought the “pops” may have been the sound of children running around throwing firecrackers at one another. He said he heard a similar “pop” about 3 a.m. Thursday, and, “Lo and behold, the next day, this incident happened.”
No one was struck or injured during Friday’s shooting, which occurred about 5:51 p.m., GPD Sgt. Chad Gallacinao said. Numerous neighbors, including several children, were outside in the immediate area when the shooting occurred, according to the GPD.
“This demonstration of bold and reckless behavior is unparalleled in our community,” the department said in a press release.
Jose A. Lopez, 19, and John Carlos Castro, 18, both Gilroy residents, were arrested by the GPD’s Anti-Crime Team after fleeing the area and were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose. The two face charges of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, participation in a gang-related crime, possession of a sawed-off shotgun, possession of a concealed pistol, reckless driving and driving without a license, according to a GPD press release.
The four-person GPD Anti-Crime Team is managing the investigation, which will be presented to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for Gang Unit prosecution, according to a GPD press release. Bail had not been set as of Monday afternoon, according to the GPD.
The 15-year-old was booked into Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall, also in San Jose, Gallacinao said.
Gallacinao confirmed Lopez and Castro are Nortenos, but wouldn’t comment about a potential target. “We’re probably not going to comment on the rival gang,” Gallacinao said.
Gallacinao said evidence confirms the suspects took aim at a specific apartment inside the complex. He said GPD investigators will try to determine why the potential victim was being targeted by the rival gang, and if the victim was, in fact “leading a gang lifestyle.”
Two residents said the shooting happened in a quad area along the complex’s east side, where one of the complex’s six, two-story units are located.
The resident who heard the gunshots watched the scene unfold from his balcony.
He said he watched two of the suspects, dressed in black long-sleeve T-shirts, black pants and “pure white tennis shoes,” run out of the quad area and behind the complex’s swimming pool before he lost sight of them.
The man said he didn’t recognize anyone involved and wasn’t sure if they were inside another apartment before the shots were fired. It’s not known whether the suspects live at the complex.
After several minutes, about five or six residents were “milling about” in a parking lot in front of the complex’s management office, the man said, where another resident called police on a cell phone.
The man said he heard the suspects fled the area. Later, he overheard, “They have them,” from another resident. Police stayed at the complex for several hours Friday, searching the area with flashlights, the man said.
He said mostly families live in the apartments, many of whom don’t appear to speak very much English. The man said he hasn’t decided whether he feels safe in his apartment. He described the complex as, at times, “kind of spooky.”
“I just moved here. I don’t know the good guys from the bad guys,” he said.
In terms of Gilroy locales that experience more gang activity than others, Gallacinao said gang-related incidents in the city are unpredictable and spread out.
“We’ve seen activity both in central Gilroy and on the outskirts,” he said. “It’s all over. Gang members don’t live in specific neighborhoods. They live throughout the city.”
The impact of the Nortenos – a prison gang with roots dating back 30 years – spreads throughout Northern California, according to Gallacinao, who said he “can’t even begin to speculate” the number of free-roaming Norteno “street soldiers” carrying out the work of their incarcerated counterparts.
In March, several Gilroy residents said they feared rival gangs had began a retaliatory war based on shootings that occurred on Monticelli Drive and Lewis Street on consecutive nights.
In April 2010, a 75-year-old man was beaten to death with a baseball bat during a home invasion that occurred in the Plum Tree Apartments, also located on Montebello Drive.
Police shut down Monte Bello Drive in January 2003 after three gunshots rattled the neighborhood as children walked home from school.
The apartment complex’s north end shares a chain-link fence – busted and broken in some stretches – with the St. Mary Cemetery. Faded graffiti could be seen on one apartment wall, while holes appeared punched into others.
In some parts of the complex, children’s toys were strewn about front lawns, and dozens of bicycles were chained to metal railings on stairwells. A shopping cart from a Dollar Tree store was parked in front of one apartment.
On multiple occasions, residents were audible inside their apartments, but declined to answer knocks on their doors.
Several residents said they were unaware of the shooting, while some residents were guarded, giving limited accounts of what they remembered from Friday’s events.
No one who spoke gave their name.
One woman who didn’t want to reveal much information about herself or her family, said she’s not afraid to live in the complex, but did say she and her young son usually stay indoors except to run errands or wash clothes in one of the complex’s laundry rooms.
The complex office was closed Monday morning.
Another woman said she didn’t remember hearing shots, but did look outside to see several “nervous” looking men running around the complex around the time the shots were reported.
A resident who said his girlfriend also lived in the complex, said she told him police were “looking for someone” Friday. She said there were “lots of policemen,” and saw at least two police SUVs and two patrol cars.
He said he had only been living in the Montebello apartments a few months. When asked if he thought there was a lot of crime in and around the complex, he said, “I assume so. It’s pretty sketchy. I’ve lived here four months, though, and I haven’t been stabbed yet.”
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