Two arrested in shooting
Family and friends are mourning the death of a San Jose teen who authorities say was mortally wounded last week when he was shot while driving through a Santa Clara neighborhood.
Two South Bay men have since been arrested after being tracked to the Central Valley, according to Santa Clara police.
The victim, formally identified Monday as Alexis “Alex” Cardenas Gutierrez, 17, attended Foothill High School in East San Jose and grew up in the city but recently moved to Morgan Hill, after a fireworks-related blaze dam-
aged his family’s home in January.
On Wednesday night, Alex was reportedly driving near Brookdale and Bing drives in a neighborhood off Homestead Road and Lawrence Expressway. Around 10:44 p.m., a Santa Clara patrol officer headed to the area to investigate what was thought to be the sound of post-Independence Day fireworks and instead found a car crashed into parked van.
When the officer got closer, he found Alex inside the car, slumped over the wheel with a gunshot wound. The teen was rushed to the hospital, where he died Friday, police said.
Investigators believe that Alex was shot by someone firing at him from the street, and on the day he died, police identified 25-year-old San Jose resident Giovanny Ortiz and 18-year-old Eric James Carter of Santa Clara as suspects.
Police tracked the two suspects to a motel in Modesto, where they took them into custody with the help of Modesto police. Both men have been booked into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of murder and are being held without bail.
Lt. Dan Moreno affirmed that the shooting is not believed to be random, and that the victim and suspects knew each other through mutual friends.
The violence rattled the typically serene neighborhood not far from the Kaiser Permanente hospital that serves the area. And an outpouring of grief came from close friends who knew Alex as a hardworking young adult who was attending a mechanic school, looking to put a troubled youth behind him.
Michael Munoz, 17, grew up with Alex in their East San Jose neighborhood, dating back to their childhood days riding bikes.
“He was very kindhearted and always had a smile,” Michael said. “Very full of laughter and joy. There was never a dull moment with him.”
Michael was among the last people to see Alex alive: About 20 minutes before the shooting, he said they were talking to each other in his back yard, across the street from Alex’s old house.
“He said ‘Later,’ ” Michael said. “And I was like, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ “
Michael would find out the next day that his longtime friend never made it home.
“He should have been going home,” he said. “I don’t know why he was over there. That’s what hurts me so bad. He should have been going home.”
Michael and other friends, including schoolmates at Foothill, acknowledged that Alex got in with bad crowds and believe he was “with the wrong people at the wrong time.” His Facebook page made allusions to drug dealing. But they also knew him to be a person who “was so excited to see himself in a gown” and bring a diploma to his mom.
Regina Rodriguez, a family friend, said Alex and his brother were building up a business where they worked as bouncers, and that he split his time between that, Foothill, and mechanic school.
“It’s a senseless killing,” Rodriguez said.
Anyone with information about the shooting can contact Detective Sgt. Saskia Lagergren at 408-615-4823.