San Jose Suspects Arrested After Deadly Gang Dispute
In San Jose, two suspects have been taken into custody after an argument over gang affiliations led to the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Marcos Flores earlier this week.
Police spokesman Officer Albert Morales told the San Jose Mercury News that Moses Tajeda, 23, was taken into custody on Monterey Highway San Jose Wednesday evening. Ray Reese, 23, has also been detained in connection with the San Jose murder that occurred on Monday.
Flores’ family stated that he was walking in the Roundtable neighborhood of San Jose when he was confronted by the shooter and his accomplice. As he attempted to walk away from a gang-related argument, he was shot. His family insists that Flores was not involved in any of the gangs that saturate the San Jose neighborhood.
Morales stated that the argument involved gang affiliations, though the San Jose Police Department gave no specifics as to the series of events in their announcement of the suspects’ capture.
On Monday, July 13 at 9:30 p.m., San Jose police responded to a call concerning a shooting in the San Jose Roundtable neighborhood. While investigating, they found Flores fighting for his life after being shot on the 5200 block of Monterey Rd. KRON 4 stated in their report that Flores was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.
This shooting makes the 12th homicide this year, four of which have been gang related. The San Jose Mercury News reports that summer seems to have been the trigger for the uptick in gang violence, just as San Jose officials reported a 15 percent drop in gang violence in the previous five months. The San Jose Police department stated a noticeable increase in gang-related violent crimes in the months of June and July. Two other shootings occurred in San Jose’s gang saturated neighborhoods during that five-month span.
The city of San Jose and the San Jose Police department have been implementing strategies to curb gang violence since 2010, when the mayor started the Crime and Gang Prevention Task Force and Summit. This year’s summit took place on February 28. The San Jose Crime and Gang Prevention Summit seeks to engage leaders in the community, non-profit organizations, and local neighborhoods in finding solutions that will make San Jose a safer place to live.
The San Jose police department is requesting that anyone with information on the shooting contact them the San Jose homicide detectives at 408-277-5283 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP (7867) or with svcri mestoppers.org.
[Images via the San Jose Police Department]
