Police are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to
the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects who killed
Juan Arellano, Jr., with a gun last year.
Police are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects who killed Juan Arellano, Jr., with a gun last year.
The reward, which was announced Thursday, is not necessarily based on specific or new information that police have gathered in the ongoing investigation, according to Morgan Hill Police Cmdr.. Joe Sampson.
“We’re trying to motivate anyone out there that has information, to come forward,” Sampson said.
Arellano, a Hollister resident, was shot to death outside the Crest Avenue Apartments northwest of downtown Morgan Hill. The homicide happened about 11:20 p.m. Oct. 2, 2009.
Based on witness interviews and other evidence, police think at least two male Hispanic suspects, between 16 and 20 years old and wearing dark blue clothing, were involved in the shooting with a 9mm hand gun.
Witnesses at the scene said they overheard the suspects exchanging gang-related slurs with Arellano, who was by himself at the time of shooting, police said. The suspects are still outstanding, and police continue to investigate the homicide.
The crime followed two more gang-related violent assaults in Morgan Hill the same day. A 16-year-old male was beaten by at least one male suspect at the bus stop near Main and Hale avenues. The victim was hospitalized for several days, with a ruptured spleen and other injuries, following the assault.
After that, a Gilroy man was stabbed about 14 times by a group of males wearing blue clothing at Tennant Station, between Morgan Hill Bowl and Safeway grocery store. The 31-year-old victim was treated at Saint Louise Regional Hospital.
No one has been arrested in connection with those crimes, Sampson said. On Jan. 8, police arrested Mario Flores, 20, who they identified as a “person of interest” in the homicide. He is not a suspect, and Sampson declined to release any information about his potential knowledge of the crime.
When Flores was arrested in Merced County, police said he had firearms and marijuana in his possession.
Police think all of the violent crimes of Oct. 2, 2009 were motivated by ongoing tensions between northern and southern street gangs.
Sampson said police have followed a number of leads related to the homicide, but many of those have been “dead ends.”
Anyone with information about the Oct. 2 homicide may call Morgan Hill Detective Brandon Richards at (408) 779-2101 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867. Information can also be emailed to br**************@***********ca.gov.
