Gilroy
– Prosecutors Monday will begin presenting evidence against two
men believed to be involved in three gang-related drive-by
shootings that occurred Dec. 28, 2003.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Prosecutors Monday will begin presenting evidence against two men believed to be involved in three gang-related drive-by shootings that occurred Dec. 28, 2003.
Israel Enrique Hernandez, 20, and Juan Hernandez, 23, no relation, are each charged with attempted murder, firing into an occupied vehicle, and committing a crime to benefit a street gang. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Both men are suspected of being involved in the first of three shootings between rival gang members that took place in Gilroy that day – as perpetrators in the first incident and as victims in the second two.
Israel Hernandez and Juan Hernandez, believed to be members of the Sureño-associated East Eighth Street gang, were driving with a friend southbound on Church Street when a car carrying rival Norteño-associated gang members drove past them, and Israel Hernandez fired three to four shots at them from the back seat of the car he was in, according to police reports. One bullet went through a front window of a nearby house and lodged in an interior wall, a second ricocheted off the same house’s outside wall and was found on the porch, while a third went through the window of another house.
After the shooting, Israel Hernandez, Juan Hernandez and their friend continued driving and came under fire themselves near Wayland Lane and Sherwood Drive, possibly by rival gang members.
Later that day, Sureño gang members again came under attack on U.S. 101 near Highway 25, when two cars apparently boxed in a third and fired upon it, injuring the driver.
The Norteño gang members are expected to go on trial later this month, said Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott, who handles South County gang cases.
