GILROY
– Police are warning local residents that a Gilroy man wanted
for a
”
mob hit
”
style shooting on Hecker Pass Highway is armed and dangerous and
hiding out somewhere in the area.
GILROY – Police are warning local residents that a Gilroy man wanted for a “mob hit” style shooting on Hecker Pass Highway is armed and dangerous and hiding out somewhere in the area.
Santa Clara County Sheriff’s investigators continue to search for David “Orozco” Herrera, the 23-year-old Gilroy man who allegedly shot an “associate” three times at close range on Hecker Pass Highway near Pole Line Road around 1 a.m. Tuesday and tossed him over an embankment, leaving him for dead.
Investigators declined to release the victim’s name, but did say he is from Gilroy. He remains in a San Jose area hospital recovering from multiple bullet wounds, although his status is unclear.
“We’ve been in contact with and interviewed all of (Herrera’s) known associates in the area,” Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Dean Baker said Friday morning. “It appears that he’s holed up somewhere in the area. … The weapon used in the shooting was never recovered, so we can assume he’s armed and dangerous.”
Police are also searching for a second suspect in the shooting, although his identity is still unknown.
“Some stuff we don’t know,” Baker said. “Some stuff we can’t tell you. We are trying to piece it together.”
Local law agencies were alerted to the shooting by a 911 call at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday when a passerby driving on Hecker Pass Highway saw the bloodied victim crawling from a ditch on the side of the road, police said.
According to police, the victim was riding in the same car with Herrera and the second suspect before he was shot three times at close range and dumped over the side of the road.
Emergency crews from the South Santa Clara County Fire District responded to the scene thinking it was an automobile accident and later alerted the Sheriff’s department to the gunshot wounds.
A motive for the shooting is still being determined.
“We don’t know if it was drugs or gangs or something else,” Baker said.
Herrera does have a prior criminal history, but “nothing significant,” Baker said.
Thought to be the trigger man in the shooting, Herrera is described as a 5-foot-5-inch, 170-pound Latino man with brown eyes and black hair.
The only description police have of the vehicle involved in the shooting is a blue, compact car.
Sheriff’s Department investigators are also working with the Gilroy Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies to find Herrera.
Police are asking anyone with information about Herrera’s whereabouts or the shooting to call Sheriff’s Detectives Dean Baker or Dave Gordon at 299-2211 or the Gilroy Police Department at 846-0350.
