Death after 2022 street fight declared a homicide

SAN JOSE >> Coroner's officials have concluded that a man's death following a street fight on the southern edges of the city last year was a homicide, according to San Jose police.

The death was reported July 11, 2022, around 12:50 p.m. in the 6400 block of Hellyer Avenue. Responding police officers found a man who was receiving CPR from a bystander; he eventually was taken to a hospital, where he died.

An ensuing investigation determined that the man who died had been in a fight with an unknown person before the police call. The site of the call is an empty stretch of Hellyer Avenue that runs alongside Coyote Creek and is surrounded by open land.

The victim has been identified as 51-year-old Rene Joseph Gilbert. Police said that on Dec. 12, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office formally classified his death as a homicide.

Gilbert, whom the coroner's office listed as transient, died from methamphetamine toxicity compounded by hypertension and heart disease, “in the setting of recent physical altercation,” according to his death records.

Police have said the homicide is under investigation but did not otherwise disclose any more information, including who might be a suspect. The death marks the 35th homicide of the year investigated by San Jose police.

Anyone with information for investigators can contact the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. Rafael Varela at 3638@sanjoseca. gov or Detective Jose Montoya at 3644@sanjoseca. gov. Tips also can be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.