Gilroy
– Two teen boys were beaten with baseball bats – and one of them
stabbed – during what police are calling an attempted homicide at
Las Animas Veterans Park Thursday night.
A group of four Gilroy teens were in the parking lot adjacent to
the skate park on Mantelli Drive, near Wren Avenue, at 7:42pm
Thursday when a group of unidentified men armed with baseball bats
approached them, Gilroy police said.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Two teen boys were beaten with baseball bats – and one of them stabbed – during what police are calling an attempted homicide at Las Animas Veterans Park Thursday night.
A group of four Gilroy teens were in the parking lot adjacent to the skate park on Mantelli Drive, near Wren Avenue, at 7:42pm Thursday when a group of unidentified men armed with baseball bats approached them, Gilroy police said. There could be as many as five suspects, based on eyewitness accounts from about 10 people who were in the park near where the attack occurred.
The suspects used their baseball bats to vandalize two of the victims’ cars, smashing windows and damaging the bodies of the vehicles, said Officer Joseph Deras of the GPD’s Anti-Crime Team.
Two 15-year-olds were beaten by the suspects, and one of them was stabbed in the upper body.
Both the injured victims were treated at an area hospital. The stabbing victim’s wound was life-threatening, but he is recovering, Deras said. The other victim was treated and released. Their names are not being released because they are minors.
Police are investigating whether the altercation was gang-related.
“These guys were just there; I don’t know if they were targeted,” Deras said.
At one point, a man who was at the park with his family was approached by at least one of the suspects, but he was not attacked, Deras said.
The suspects are believed to be young Hispanic males, between 16 and 18 years old, Deras said, but it is unclear how many and what types of vehicles they were driving. The suspects fled the park, at 400 Mantelli Drive, before police and emergency personnel arrived.
“We know there’s one car for sure, and we’re looking into others,” Deras said.
Details surrounding the incident are cloudy due to conflicting witness reports, he said.
Police are not yet releasing information about the vehicle.
A resident of Birdsong Street, behind Mantelli Drive just north of the park, said she heard what she thought to be ambulance sirens about 7:45pm, but she had been sleeping and didn’t look outside her window to see what was happening.
The resident said she heard and saw a number of police officers a few months ago at the park, and she suspected it was because of a fight.
“I think maybe there could be better patrolling around the park,” she said. “You see all kinds of neighborhood get-togethers and family birthday parties and things like that during the day, but it’s different at night. It gets bad at night.”
She added that the roughly six-foot wooden fence separating her backyard from Mantelli doesn’t do much to block sound from the street and the park.
“I usually hear when something’s going on,” she said.
Melesio Hernandez, who lives on Mantelli directly across from the park, said he didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary – just the usual recreational league softball games that are played almost every night at the park.
“It’s generally quiet. Sometimes the games go late at night, but that’s all I hear,” he said.
Maria Boyer, a resident on Arbor Street north of the park, said she didn’t hear anything Thursday night but “wouldn’t be surprised” if the incident was gang-related. She said she often sees groups of males loitering in the park, but she doesn’t know if they belong to gangs. She added she also frequently sees police patrolling the area.
Anyone with information regarding this incident may report it anonymously to Deras at 846-0348.
