Morgan Hill police working on piecing the shooting together
San Martin – A suspect in the murder of a 19-year-old Gilroy man was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Martin.
Anthony James Frausto, 18, of Morgan Hill, is charged in the death of Gilroy resident Luis Santos Bautista. He waived his right to hear his charges read by Superior Court Judge Kenneth Shapiro, and his next court date was set for Oct. 18 at 1:30pm.
Frausto remains in Santa Clara County Jail. He is being held without bail.
Bautista was killed Friday night after what police say was a gang-related shooting behind the Safeway grocery store in the Tennant Station shopping center in Morgan Hill.
Morgan Hill Police detectives are continuing to investigate the homicide. No other arrests have been made.
“They are still following up on leads, still trying to piece things together,” MHPD Cmdr. Joe Sampson said Wednesday.
Two suspects in the case remain at large, Sampson said. They are believed to be a white male and an Hispanic male, both in their late teens or early 20s. The weapon, described as a large revolver, has not been found.
Frausto did not speak during the arraignment Wednesday, other than agreeing to waive reading of the charges and to ask for a public defender. He appeared relaxed as he waited in the courtroom, talking to the man in custody sitting next to him, wearing, like Frausto, a red jail uniform, shackles and handcuffs.
The red uniform is usually worn by inmates suspected of serious crimes such as homicide.
Several people who know Frausto were present during the proceeding. Though they wouldn’t identify themselves and refused to comment, one woman said, “He turned himself in.”
Sampson confirmed that Frausto reported to the Morgan Hill Police Department for questioning Sunday.
“He knew that we were looking for him and came in, he told us, to clear his name and was subsequently taken into custody,” he said.
Frausto was arrested early Sunday morning, about 24 hours after Bautista died at Regional Medical Center in San Jose. Bautista was flown to the hospital from Saint Louise Medical Center, where he was originally taken by a witness to the shooting.
Bautista was shot four times, in the arm, abdomen, thigh and chest. Witnesses at the scene reported seeing five men in their late teens or early 20s chasing Bautista before the shooting.
Frausto is believed to be a member of the Norteño gang, while Bautista, who came to the U.S. from Mexico less than a year ago, was apparently a member of the Sureño gang, Sampson said.
It is the first murder in four years in Morgan Hill. The last homicide was the shooting of Tarina Campodonica in March of 2002 at her Morgan Hill home. Daren Campodonica, her husband, was convicted of the murder in May and sentenced to a 40 year prison term.
