Three sisters with Gilroy ties remain in custody, two of them
charged with the brutal attempted murder of a suspected rival gang
member who was stabbed 11 times near a San Jose gas station in
June. Full story
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Three sisters with Gilroy ties remain in custody, two of them charged with the brutal attempted murder of a suspected rival gang member who was stabbed 11 times near a San Jose gas station in June.
And it was investigators poring over the sister’s Facebook photos, video surveillance footage from the gas station cameras and even interviews with suspects’ former high school teachers that led to the charges nearly three months later.
Yvonne Guerrero, 19 of Gilroy, and Veronica Guerrero, 28 of San Jose, are accused of orchestrating the bloody, premeditated attack, which reportedly began when a friend recognized the victim inside a Valero mini-mart and ended when the victim was chased, beaten and stabbed by three men in front of an apartment complex several blocks away, according to eyewitness accounts in court documents obtained by the Dispatch.
Police say the sisters, who did not physically stab the victim, are aligned with a Norteno criminal street gang and targeted the victim, an alleged member of the rival Surenos who claims he had “dropped out” of the gang lifestyle, according to court documents.
During an interview with police, investigators asked Yvonne Guerrero, according to court documents, “You know you have to suffer the consequences for what you are doing?”
She replied, “Yes, I do,” according to court documents.
When Veronica Guerrero spoke with police, she denied participation, saying, “I think I need an attorney ’cause this is crazy,” according to court documents.
A third sister, Gilroy resident Valerie Guerrero, 21, was arrested and charged with felony possession of an illegal weapon in a separate incident and has not been implicated in the attempted murder. Officers, however, did find a “billy club” under her car seat during her arrest, according to Sgt. Chad Gallacinao of the Gilroy Police Department.
Based on information from the San Jose Police Department, Gilroy police located and arrested all three sisters Sept. 10. Yvonne Guerrero and Valerie Guerrero were arrested in the 8300 block of Camino Arroyo – not far from The Children’s Place, a clothing store where police say Yvonne Guerrero is employed.
Veronica was arrested in the 7000 block of Princevalle Street at an apartment where her sisters were living, according to police.
An additional suspect police believe is the “main stabber” – 18-year-old Milpitas resident Carlos Montoya – remains at large, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Police have footage of two other male suspects, but they have not been identified, and no additional arrests have been made.
Yvonne Guerrero and Veronica Guerrero are due to appear in a San Jose courtroom Oct. 17 for a plea hearing, according to the District Attorney’s office.
While the sisters didn’t lay a finger on the victim, police pointed to Yvonne and Veronica as “the lookout” and “the driver” respectively in connection to the stabbing, according to court documents.
After identifying Yvonne Guerrero as a suspect – with the aid of Mt. Madonna High School Principal Jennifer Del Bono, who referred to the former student by “Evee” – police combed the suspect’s public Facebook page, finding photos of her and a male known as “Pee Wee” flashing gang signs solidifying themselves as “Northern Pride Soldados,” a subgroup of the Nortenos, according to court documents. Officers later identified “Pee Wee” as Montoya, according to court documents.
Del Bono also told investigators Yvonne Guerrero associated with a group known as the Brown Pride Kings, a group the principal described as “rather large, and caused multiple problems.”
When police showed surveillance photos of Montoya to Jason Holleman, who taught the suspect at San Jose’s Independence High School, he said, “That looks like Carlos,” according to court documents.
When asked how sure he was, the teacher responded, “99.999” percent sure, according to court documents. The teacher told police Montoya once challenged him to a fight in class.
The horrific night of June 13 began, the victim told police, when he entered the Capitol Avenue gas station store to buy a candy bar and get some change to ride the VTA light rail. Soon after entering the store, the victim noticed two females and one male – police later identified the trio as the Guerreros and Montoya – who began staring at the victim, according to court documents.
The victim soon left the store but noticed the Guerreros and Montoya pacing in front of the mini-mart and making calls on a cell phone. The victim walked across the street to the VTA station because if he stayed put, “they were going to get me anyways,” he told police.
The victim told police he had been a Sureno but was no longer living a gang lifestyle. Court documents show the victim had “many Sureno tattoos very visible on his body.”
After he walked past the VTA station toward a nearby apartment complex in hopes of avoiding Montoya, the victim turned around and saw the suspect had been joined by two other males. All three suspects crossed the street and followed him, the victim told police.
“That’s when I knew what was up,” he said, according to court documents.
The victim ran, but the suspects chased and beat him, stabbing him 11 times, according to court documents which refer to a “stabbing instrument” used in the incident, but don’t state whether a weapon was ever recovered. When the victim’s brother arrived to drive him to the hospital, the victim had trouble breathing and “could barely talk,” according to court documents.
Multiple calls to Deputy District Attorney Matt Harris, who is prosecuting the case, were not returned as of press time. SJPD spokesman Jose Garcia declined to comment on the case because it had been turned over to the District Attorney’s office.
