SAN JOSE
– The 13-year-old Gilroy boy facing up to six years
incarceration and $10,000 in fines for firing a pellet gun into a
group of Gilroy High students outside the school on Dec. 11 was
sentenced Monday to a four-month minimum stay in the county’s
juvenile detention ranch.
SAN JOSE – The 13-year-old Gilroy boy facing up to six years incarceration and $10,000 in fines for firing a pellet gun into a group of Gilroy High students outside the school on Dec. 11 was sentenced Monday to a four-month minimum stay in the county’s juvenile detention ranch.
The 13-year-old, who’s name was not released because he is a juvenile, pleaded guilty to the felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon.
“Do you know what you did was wrong?” Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Eugene M. Hyman asked the boy, receiving a reply of “yes sir.”
“Did your parents teach you right from wrong?” Hyman asked next, receiving the same “yes sir” reply from the boy, who was siting next to his grandfather.
Before handing down the sentence, Hyman expressed his concern with the 13-year-old’s criminal history, which includes an attempted vehicle burglary, possession of stolen property and a misdemeanor assault – all within the last year.
“I’m concerned with your history for being so young and especially your involvement in gangs,” he said. “There are gang people in the ranch where you’re going. Right now you will have to make the decision to bang or not. Tomorrow is a new day.”
During the boy’s 120 days at the Boys Ranch north of Morgan Hill he will attended academic classes, receive counseling and take anger management courses. Depending on behavior, the boy will be able to visit his family for 24-hour periods as his sentence evolves.
The youth has been in custody at juvenile hall in San Jose since being arrested on Dec. 11.
“I think this was resolved fairly and reasonably,” said Johnny Gogo, the deputy district attorney prosecuting the case. “I think the ranch will benefit the minor.”
Neither the boy’s grandfather nor his defense attorney, Ralph Benitez, were available for comment after the hearing. The boy had been accompanied by his mother during three previous hearings but she could not attend this morning because of a work conflict.
The boy was ordered to pay only his mandatory court fees.
The confrontation on Dec. 11 began shortly before 8 a.m. on Princevalle Street just east of GHS when a group of four male and one female Gilroy High students met up with a group comprised of the 13-year-old gunman, who is not enrolled in any district school; a male district student who does not attend GHS; and two female GHS students, according to police.
After a brief exchange of words, the 13-year-old brandished the gun from his pants and fired six to seven rounds into the opposing group from a close distance, grazing two students’ pants with pellets and hitting another near the ankle, according to police. The pistol contained an air cartridge, making it more powerful than a BB gun, police said.
Following the gunshots, school supervisors in the area immediately alerted Mike Terasaki, the Gilroy Police Department’s resource officer at the school. Terasaki quickly questioned witnesses on the crowded street just east of the school and minutes later apprehended the suspect on Glenview Court, where he had hidden the gun underneath a parked car.
