Two area teens pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a
deadly weapon Tuesday, eight months after the two were arrested on
suspicion of a gang-related stabbing.
Gilroy – Two area teens pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a deadly weapon Tuesday, eight months after the two were arrested on suspicion of a gang-related stabbing.
Gerardo Flores of Gilroy and Hector Farias of Hollister, both 19, were caught in a high-speed chase that ended in a cloud of pepperspray and Taser shocks March 29.
After a verbal fight – colored by gang references – Flores stabbed two Gilroy residents, a 27-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, then sped off down Rosanna Street in Gilroy, blowing through stop signs and swiping a parked car. The chase climaxed at Devon Place, where police steered a cruiser into Flores’ Honda Acura to stop him. Both initially resisted arrest, but when Flores kept struggling, police Tazed him and doused him with pepper spray.
Flores was also convicted of inflicting great bodily injury, felony evasion and resisting a police officer, and a misdemeanor hit and run. Both teens face enhanced sentences for gang involvement.
Judge Kenneth Shapiro will determine the teens’ sentences. Scott said he couldn’t speculate on sentencing, but that both were likely to face years behind bars, with Flores slapped with the stiffer sentence.
The conviction boosts Gilroy’s anti-gang efforts, said Sgt. Kurt Svardal.
“Any time there are gang members taken off the streets, it helps reduce problems,” said Svardal. “Here are two people who won’t be out in society, causing us problems.”
