A man suspected of killing a 19-year-old Gilroy man in Morgan
Hill last week was arraigned Wednesday in Santa Clara County
Superior Court in Martin.
A man suspected of killing a 19-year-old Gilroy man in Morgan Hill last week was arraigned Wednesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court in Martin.
Anthony James Frausto, 18, of Morgan Hill waived his right to hear his charges read by Judge Kenneth Shapiro, and his next court date was set for Oct. 18 at 1:30pm.
Frausto remains in Santa Clara County Jail. He is being held without bail for the homicide of Luis Santos Bautista, who died Friday night last week after an apparent gang-related shooting behind the Safeway grocery store in Tennant Station shopping center in Morgan Hill.
Morgan Hill Police detectives are continuing to investigate the homicide. No other arrests have been made.
“They are still following up on leads, still trying to piece things together,” MHPD Cmdr. Joe Sampson said Wednesday.
Two suspects in the case remain at large, Sampson said, believed to be a white male and an Hispanic male, both in their late teens or early 20’s. The weapon, described as a large revolver, has not been found.
Frausto did not speak during the arraignment Wednesday, other than to agree to waive reading of the charges and to ask for a public defender. He appeared relaxed as he waited in the courtroom, talking to the man in custody sitting next to him, wearing, like Frausto, a red jail uniform, shackles and handcuffs.
The red uniform is usually worn by inmates suspected of serious crimes such as homicide.
Several people who know Frausto were present during the proceeding. Frausto’s mother, who refused to give her name, told the Times, “He turned himself in.”
Sampson confirmed that Frausto reported to the Morgan Hill Police Department for questioning on Sunday.
“He knew that we were looking for him and came in, he told us, to clear his name and was subsequently taken into custody,” he said.
Frausto was arrested early Sunday morning, just over 24 hours after Bautista died at Regional Medical Center in San Jose. Bautista was flown to the hospital from Saint Louise Medical Center, where he was originally taken by a witness after the shooting.
Bautista was shot four times, in the arm, abdomen, thigh and chest. Witnesses at the scene reported seeing five men in their late teens or early 20’s chasing Bautista before the shooting.
Frausto is believed to be a member of the Norteño gang, while Bautista, who came to the U.S. from Mexico less than a year ago, was apparently a member of the Sureño gang, Sampson said.
It is the first murder in four years in Morgan Hill. The last homicide was the shooting of Tarina Campodonica in March of 2002 at her Morgan Hill home. Daren Campodonica, her husband, was convicted of the murder in May and sentenced to a 40-year prison term.
