A young man was shot and killed in an apparently gang related
drive-by shooting at Crest Avenue Apartments in Morgan Hill Friday
night, police said.
A young man was shot and killed in an apparently gang related drive-by shooting at Crest Avenue Apartments in Morgan Hill Friday night, police said.
A dark vehicle stopped beside the man and one suspect shot at him several times at point-blank range, Cmdr. Joe Sampson said.
“Male Hispanic individuals pulled up, asked him if he was a member of a gang, some words were exchanged and the individual went down,” Sampson said.
The man was struck in the upper torso. Sampson said the man looked to be in his early 20s but could not describe him further.
The suspects were Hispanic males. They shot with a 9 mm handgun, and several casings were on the ground, Sampson said. No arrests have been made.
It is unknown which gang the suspects may be affiliated with. Cmdr. David Swing said he didn’t know whether the apartment complex was more populated with any one gang, but said when he was on patrol the neighborhood leaned more Norteno.
Morgan Hill Police had all detectives and the Street Crimes Team on the scene and had blocked off Crest at Main Avenue and at Berry Court as well. Sampson said the neighborhood could be blocked all night as the investigation continues. Residents were not being allowed into the neighborhood, and about six people stood outside the 7-11 convenience store on the corner awaiting access.
Just a few blocks east on Monterey Road, weekend revelry continued unabated.
Sarah Brodsky, 25, and friends were drinking at Legends Bar and Grill and heard nothing, not even the helicopters that circled over the downtown and west Morgan Hill area from about midnight to 1 a.m.
“Wow. That’s crazy,” the San Martin resident said. “I’m not surprised though. There’s a lot of gang violence around here.”
The shooting comes after a relatively mild summer with few violent crimes, Sampson said.
This is the second shooting in a week in South County. In Gilroy, last Sunday a woman in a vehicle shot at another woman after asking her what she was doing in that neighborhood. The victim was not hit. Gilroy Police are searching for the woman and a male passenger.
The last homicide in Morgan Hill was in October 2005. Luis Santos Bautista, 19, of Gilroy, was shot and killed behind the Safeway grocery store in Tennant Station. Bautista was suspected to be a member of the Sureno gang. Anthony James Frausto, a Norteno, was convicted of the crime in 2007.
Anyone with details about this incident can call Morgan Hill Police at 779-2101.
Story will be updated as details become available.
