Gilroy
– Police arrested one man for his involvement in a gang-related
attempted homicide at Las Animas Veterans Park on Sept. 23, and say
more arrests will follow.
Marino Barroso, 18, was arrested on Friday, Oct. 8 by the Gilroy
Police Department’s Anti-Crime Team (ACT), which investigates
gang-related incidents. Officers arrested Barroso at 350 Mantelli
Dr., right near the park where last month’s attack took place.
Gilroy – Police arrested one man for his involvement in a gang-related attempted homicide at Las Animas Veterans Park on Sept. 23, and say more arrests will follow.
Marino Barroso, 18, was arrested on Friday, Oct. 8 by the Gilroy Police Department’s Anti-Crime Team (ACT), which investigates gang-related incidents. Officers arrested Barroso at 350 Mantelli Dr., right near the park where last month’s attack took place.
Barroso is one of several teen-age males suspected of stabbing a 15-year-old Gilroy boy, and beating him and another 15-year-old boy with wooden baseball bats at Las Animas park the evening of Sept. 23. Police say he was one of the bat-wielding suspects, but it is unclear whether he was involved in the stabbing.
“We’re still trying to establish that,” said Officer Joseph Deras of ACT.
Barroso was booked into Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and bail was set at $250,000, Deras said. He is a Gilroy resident with an address in the northwest part of the city, but police are withholding his exact address for safety reasons.
Police also searched the suspect’s home for evidence, confiscating his vehicle – an early 1990’s sedan – that allegedly was used in the attack. A search warrant also was executed on, and evidence collected from, a business in central Gilroy, Deras said.
Police are continuing the investigation and say they anticipate making more arrests, but have not publicly identified any other suspects. Gang-related attacks such as this are often difficult to investigate because those involved are reluctant to cooperate, Deras said.
“But there were a number of people at the park, so that’s been beneficial,” he said.
Police say Barroso was with a group of several other males – as many as five, according to eyewitnesses – who confronted four Gilroy teen-age boys in the northwest parking lot of Las Animas Veterans Park, 400 Mantelli Dr.
The group, armed with wooden baseball bats, began smashing two of the victim’s cars, and physically beating two of the victims.
One of those 15-year-old victims received a life-threatening stab wound to his upper body. Both victims have been treated and released from area hospitals, police said.
The suspects fled the park in at least one vehicle before police arrived on the scene.
Anyone with information regarding this case may contact officers at 846-0348, or report anonymously to 846-0357.
