DA declines to charge woman in fatal apartment shooting near downtown

SAN JOSE >> A woman arrested following an apparent struggle over a gun with her boyfriend — a fight that ended with him fatally shot and her suffering from a graze wound — has been freed after prosecutors declined to charge her in the deadly encounter reported May 16, according to authorities.

The shooting was reported at 3:08 a.m. at a residence in the 400 block of South 10th Street, across from the southeastern border of San Jose State University. According to police, emergency dispatchers got a call from a a woman reporting that her boyfriend had been shot.

Responding officers found her inside an apartment, suffering from a graze wound from a bullet. Police also found a man dead from at least one gunshot wound. A source familiar with the investigation confirmed to the Bay Area News Group that the woman and man had been in a confrontation that turned into a fight over a gun, leading to the shots being fired.

The man's name has not been publicly released by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office, but the district attorney's office, which reviewed the shooting investigation, identified him as Victor Chavarria. Police arrested the woman involved in the incident and identified her as 41-year-old Jessica Nicole Garrison.

In a statement to this news organization May 19, the DA's office wrote that “after a careful review of the evidence,” prosecutors “declined to charge Ms. Garrison with any crimes in connection with the death of Victor Chavarria. That decision was based on the available evidence, and the investigation is ongoing.”

Jail records confirm that Garrison was released from the Elmwood women's jail, where she had been held without bail following her arrest Monday.

The shooting was the city's 10th homicide of 2022, a total that has since grown to 11 after another fatal shooting May 17.

Anyone with information about Monday's shooting can contact SJPD Detective Sgt. Isidro Bagon or Detective Sean Ancelet at 408-277-5283 or by email at 3589@sanjoseca.gov for Bagon and 4173@sanjoseca.gov for Ancelet.

Tips can also be submitted to Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.