The past week’s surge in apparent Sure
&
amp;#241o gang violence has police beefing up weekend patrols in
an effort to squelch any attempts at retaliation.
The past week’s surge in apparent Sureño gang violence has police beefing up weekend patrols in an effort to squelch any attempts at retaliation.
Compared to last year, this year has seen more gang-related assaults but fewer gang-related homicides, robberies and weapons arrests, said Sgt. Jim Gillio. But last weekend’s gang-related murder in Morgan Hill – paired with several area shootings and stabbings, and a handful of incidents at Gilroy schools – show that gang violence is on the rise, Gillio said.
“In the last week, there’s definitely been an uptick in gang violence within the City of Gilroy and the total South County region,” Gillio said.
Last Friday, gang-motivated fist fights erupted at both Gilroy High School and Brownell Middle School, police said. Police cited another student at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School for showing off metal knuckles, a dagger and gang paraphernalia. That night, a 16-year-old boy wearing a red shirt, a color associated with the Norteño gang, was beat up in Morgan Hill and suffered an injured spleen, police said.
Later on, Gilroy resident Jerry Devito, 31, was stabbed 14 times by a group of about four unknown men in the Tennant Station parking lot, between Morgan Hill Bowl and the Safeway grocery store. The assailants shouted gang slogans during the attack, Morgan Hill Cmdr. Joe Sampson said.
Devito, who is not a known gang member but has a visible red tattoo, was treated and released from Saint Louise Regional Hospital, Sampson said.
The night’s violence culminated in the shooting death of 24-year-old Juan Jose Arellano Jr. At least two men gunned Arellano down about 11:20 p.m. on the sidewalk in front of 17689 Crest Ave.
Then on Saturday, a 35-year-old Hispanic male was shot in a gang-related incident in east Gilroy, Gillio said.
Finally, six to eight teens attacked a 27-year-old hearing- and speech-impaired man with baseball bats and a knife at 9:35 p.m. Tuesday on West Ninth Street. After punching and kicking the man, hitting him with bats, and stabbing him with a large switch-blade, the assailants took off in a minivan. Police suspect the attack was gang-related because most of the assailants wore blue clothing – indicative of the Sureño street gang – and the victim wore a red article of clothing.
Gabriel Castillo, 35, a relative of the deaf victim, said the victim has “no gang affiliation whatsoever.”
“He can’t speak a word at all – only sign language,” Castillo said. “It’s one thing for gang members to fight gang members, but when the innocent start getting attacked, that’s an issue.”
Although Gillio said police have “no evidence to show these incidents are tied together,” John Garcia, a longtime Gilroy resident and member of the Gilroy Gang Task Force, said he’s seen tensions rise as the Sureño population in the area expands.
“You’re going to see violence increasing,” he said. “There’s power in numbers.”
