Gang member charged with multiple offenses; another also
charged
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – A man charged in four attacks believed to be gang-related was in court for his preliminary hearing this week, along with another suspected of being his accomplice in shooting a man in his car three times.
Police say Anthony Aguilera, 21, of Gilroy, is a member of a Norteño gang who attacked a man, possibly using brass knuckles, on Rosanna Street last July 25; shot a man in his car three times on Church Street last Oct. 23; stabbed a man five times on Princevalle Street last Nov. 7; and stabbed a Morgan Hill man in a drug deal gone bad on Jan. 29. The last incident led to his arrest in Gilroy, following a three-hour manhunt through apartments on the east side of the city.
He is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an inhabited vehicle and evading a police officer.
Daniel Michael Zuniga, 20, of Gilroy, is suspected of being a fellow gang member who participated in the Oct. 23 Church Street shooting. He was on probation at the time and was arrested on Nov. 7, following a search of his residence that turned up evidence. He is charged with attempted murder and shooting into an occupied vehicle.
Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott wrapped up his presentation of evidence in three of the four cases on Thursday.
The 23-year-old victim in the Church Street shooting testified that he was driving northbound on Church Street when he was asked by a man in another car to pull over. Gilroy police Sgt. Greg Flippo testified that the driver of the suspects’ car, with Aguilera and Zuniga inside, had begun following the victim because Aguilera said he needed to talk with him. The driver pulled alongside the victim at the First Street intersection so Aguilera could flag him down, Flippo testified. The driver then passed the victim’s car by driving on the wrong side of Church Street, and turned into a parking lot at 8380 Church St.
The victim testified that he followed the car, thinking he might know the people inside it. Instead, the prosecution says Aguilera and Zuniga got out of the car. The victim did, too, and the three exchanged words. The victim got back in his car to drive away, he testified, when one of the two men fired repeatedly at his car, striking him twice in the arm and once in the leg.
Officer Joseph Deras testified that the incident was a case of two Norteño gang members attempting to kill another Norteño gang member belonging to a separate group. He gave examples of Aguilera’s and Zuniga’s gang-related tattoos and listed the numerous times Gilroy officers made contact with the two and identified them as associated with a Norteño gang.
The victim, meanwhile, testified that he was a Norteño gang member, served time in prison for assault with a deadly weapon and had been in jail for drug offenses. He was on parole when he was shot.
Defense attorneys for both Aguilera and Zuniga did more extensive cross-examinations of witnesses than is often seen during a preliminary hearing. Aguilera’s attorney, Andrew Tursi, on Thursday tried to distance Aguilera from gangs, asking Deras whether his tattoos could be unrelated. Deras testified that only one out of at least four could.
Zuniga’s lawyer, Daniel Mayfield, pressed the shooting victim on his recollection of the incident both now and at the time he was interviewed by police, citing his admitted drug and alcohol use. Mayfield also pursued the victim’s description of an interview conducted at the Gilroy Police Department that the victim called “an interrogation.”
The victim testified that police threatened to hold him for violating his parole if he withheld information, which he said he wasn’t. When the victim did not change his story and identify his attackers like the officers thought he could, he testified he was placed in custody for a parole violation, stemming from his use of alcohol, methamphetamine and marijuana.
On Tuesday, the first day of the hearing, a victim and witnesses in the July 25 attack testified that Aguilera was the perpetrator and the attack was unprovoked, Scott said.
On Wednesday, the victim stabbed on Jan 29 testified that Aguilera attacked him when the two met, apparently, so Aguilera could purchase marijuana, Scott said. Instead, Aguilera allegedly attacked the victim and also was injured in the scuffle. The victim went to a San Jose hospital and Aguilera sought treatment at Saint Louise Regional Hospital, but fled from police when they arrived to interview him. He fled on foot in an East Gilroy neighborhood, where the Gilroy police Special Operations Group and K-9 units searched nearby apartments, room by room, before locating him. Scott said Aguilera had washed his bloody clothes before surrendering.
A witness in the Nov. 7 stabbing did not appear in court Thursday. The hearing will continue and is expected to conclude on July 18. A trial may be scheduled for some time in September.
