GILROY
– Acting on a recent string of anonymous tips, police have
linked a reputed Gilroy gang member to the May 2001 murder of a
24-year-old Soledad student.
GILROY – Acting on a recent string of anonymous tips, police have linked a reputed Gilroy gang member to the May 2001 murder of a 24-year-old Soledad student.
Paul “Spooky” Zapata, 21, is being charged with shooting Juan Miguel Trigueros two times at point-blank range while Trigueros used a pay phone on May 19, 2001, outside the 7-Eleven store at Leavesley and Murray avenues.
A bloodied Trigueros stumbled into the crowded convenience store and asked for help before collapsing and dying on the floor.
According to police, Trigueros and Zapata had never met, and the only motive for the killing was that Trigueros looked like a Mexican national. Zapata is a Norteño gang member. Norteños are typically Mexicans Americans born in the United States who are opposed to Mexican nationals.
Zapata is currently serving time in San Quintin State Prison on unrelated charges.
“I think it’s a fact that the victim looked like a Mexican national,” said Sgt. Jack Robinson of the Gilroy Police Department. “Zapata is violently opposed to that, so that looks to be the only motive. Nothing else connects these two.”
Zapata has a long criminal history and was most recently arrested and sentenced to San Quintin for a Nov. 5 felony assault and burglary in Gilroy, police said.
Zapata, who lived in Hollister prior to his November arrest, will be returned to Santa Clara County to be tried on the murder charges within the coming months, police said. Zapata is also being charged with an additional offense because of the killing’s association with a criminal gang, and if convicted he is facing 25 years to life in prison.
Trigueros, who was a student at Gilroy’s Center for Employment Training, a non-profit vocational training center for low-income students, had no gang ties and was stranded in Gilroy because of two slashed tires, according to police reports.
Members of Tirgueros’ family could not be reached for comment, but Robinson said Trigueros’ mother was in constant contact with the GPD and was “very relieved” when he told her about the new charges.
According to Robinson, the break in the case came from sources who gave information about the whereabouts of the getaway vehicle used in the murder.
Witnesses reported seeing Zapata flee south on Murray Avenue following the shooting, then getting into a 1989, white Toyota pick-up truck. Police eventually tracked down the truck and learned that it was registered to Zapata’s grandmother.
