Three arrested in connection with deadly February shooting
Two adults and a minor have been charged with murder in what authorities allege was a gang-related ambush
SAN JOSE >> Two adults and a teenage boy have been arrested and charged in connection with what authorities believe was a gang-related ambush shooting that killed a 48-year-old man in early February on East Santa Clara Street.
Jenevee Pritchard, 23 and 20-year-old Nathaniel Talivaa, both San Jose residents, and an underage boy whose name was withheld, were arrested earlier this month and charged last week with the Feb. 9 killing of Tong Nguyen, according to San Jose police.
The charges against the two adult defendants include potential sentencing enhancements indicating prosecutors’ suspicion that the attack was fueled by gang motives.
In the early-morning hours of Feb. 9, Nguyen was found lying on East Santa Clara Street between 28th Street and Highway 101. Police initially did not disclose how he died, but the coroner’s office would later confirm that Nguyen had been shot in the head.
A criminal complaint filed March 25 shows Pritchard and Talivaa were charged with murder and an accompanying gang enhancement, conspiracy, and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony. The outline of the conspiracy charge offers insight on how investigators believe the shooting unfolded.
According to the police account and conspiracy charge details, the defendants were in a car driven by Talivaa and pulled up to East Santa Clara Street some distance behind Nguyen, who was walking on the sidewalk. Pritchard and the teen then got out and began following Nguyen on foot, initially from afar, while Talivaa drove on to get ahead of where Nguyen was walking.
The complaint states that at some point, Pritchard and the teen ran to catch up to Nguyen, and one of them shot him. Talivaa was always in the car, but he was charged under the felony murder rule in which accomplices in a homicide can be charged with murder, even if they did not expressly commit the killing, on the assertion they participated with knowledge of an intent to kill.
That rule has been revised by state legislators in the form of Senate Bill 1437, a 2018 law authored by Berkeley-based State Sen. Nancy Skinner that granted sentencing relief — and often release from incarceration — for accomplices who can show they did not know about a deadly plot or intend for a death to occur when participating in a group crime.
In an news release issued Tuesday, after inquiries from this news organization, police stated that officers arrested Pritchard, Talivaa and the underage boy on March 16. Talivaa is listed as a San Jose resident in that release, though the charging document lists a Los Banos residence for him.
Jail records show that Talivaa is in custody in the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose, and that Pritchard is in the Elmwood women’s jail in Milpitas. Both were being held without bail, and were scheduled to make a court appearance Tuesday.
A precise motive for why Nguyen was targeted has not been released by investigators. The shooting marked the city’s fourth homicide of the year, a tally that has since climbed to 10.
Anyone with information about the Feb. 9 shooting can contact SJPD homicide Detective Sgt. Isidro Bagon or Detective Ramon Sanchez at 408-277-5283 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.