13-year-old, 4 others arrested in San Jose Santana Row fatal stabbing of 15-year-old on Valentine's Day date
Police arrested five suspects in the brutal stabbing death of a 15-year-old boy on a Valentine's Day date at San Jose's Santana Row including a 13-year-old who police say was the one who inflicted the fatal stabbing.
The stabbing happened on the evening of Feb. 14 on the 300 block of Santana Row. Police said the teenager was taken to a hospital and died the next morning of his injuries.
The victim was identified on a GoFundMe page by family members as David Gutierrez.
At a press conference Monday, San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph said the teen was on a date with his girlfriend when he was approached by five suspected gang members "actively seeking a confrontation."
Joseph said the group asked the victim about his gang involvement and then proceeded to assault the teen, who eventually managed to escape.
"However, one of the suspects, a 13-year-old male, pursued him, confronted him again, this time armed with a knife," said Joseph. "The 13-year-old suspect brutally stabbed the victim multiple times, resulting in his death."
An investigation involving surveillance camera footage, officer body-worn cameras, and gang intelligence resulted in investigators identifying all five suspects as members of a local street gang, Joseph said.
Joseph said the teenage victim had no gang affiliations and "was tragically just at the wrong place at the wrong time." His death was the city's third homicide of the year.
On Feb. 20 a police special operations unit located and arrested four of the five suspects, including the 13-year-old believed to be the stabber, Joseph said.
The 13-year-old Campbell resident was booked at juvenile hall on homicide and felony assault charges. Three 16-year-old San Jose residents were booked at juvenile hall on the assault charges, Joseph said.
The following day, police also located an 18-year-old suspect from Campbell, Emanuel Sanchez Damian, and booked him into county jail for felony assault.
During the press conference, Joseph decried the state's juvenile justice system as a major obstacle to keeping the community safe. He said aside from the proliferation of firearms, the lack of consequences for juveniles who commit increasingly violent crimes is increasing the challenges police face.
"Following this press conference, the public will largely be prevented from seeing the outcome of the cases involving juvenile offenders due to California law," said Joseph. "And the public would likely never know that the 13-year-old suspect we arrested, if found guilty of this murder, is likely to see no more than eight months in an unlocked ranch facility. Juveniles under the age of 14 don't get sent to juvenile hall, even for murder."
Joseph said adult criminals are aware of the lack of hard consequences for juveniles committing violent acts and are increasingly recruiting underage individuals to carry out violent crimes.
"People under the age of 14 are presumed not to have the capacity to commit crimes," legal analyst Steven Clark said. "So it's understandable why law enforcement is very frustrated by the current state of the law when you look at the heinous nature of this crime."
Clark said the age of the suspects will also keep sentencing from the public.
"When you're talking about a 13-year-old, that is very different than an older juvenile, and you'll likely see a rehabilitation and the focus on the mental capacity of the individual be paramount," Clark said.
Kara St. Cyr contributed to this report.
