Rash of shootings in 10 hours leaves 2 dead, 2 critically hurt

San Jose was plagued by four shootings Tuesday morning, including two homicides, in a wave of gun violence unusual for the Bay Area’s largest city.

The shootings occurred within a 10-hour stretch in different parts of the city and left two people dead and two others, including a 13-year- old boy, with lifethreatening injuries. There was no known evidence available Tuesday suggesting that any of the shootings were connected.

The spate of shootings started just after midnight Tuesday, when officers were called to the Extended Stay America hotel in the 6000 block of San Ignacio Avenue. They arrived to find a man, inside a room, suffering from at least one gunshot wound, according to San Jose police.

The victim was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. His name was not publicly released pending his formal identification and notification of his next of kin by the Santa Clara County Medical ExaminerCoroner’s Office.

Then at 4:20 a. m., a shooting was reported at McLaughlin Avenue and Story Road that seriously wounded a 13-year- old boy.

A third shooting, and second homicide, occurred in the 3200 block of Loma Verde Drive, near Winchester Boulevard between Santana Row and Campbell. Officers were called about 6:15 a.m. for a report of “a person down,” according to police.

They arrived to find a man who had been shot, and he died at the scene. His name also was not immediately released by the coroner’s office.

The fourth shooting of the morning occurred just before 10 a.m. in the 400 block of South Willard Avenue, involving a victim who suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.

The two fatal shootings reported Tuesday were the city’s 31st and 32nd homicides of the year, compared to 26 homicides at the same point last year. There have been seven homicides in San Jose in September, the most of any month so far this year.

Police said the motives and circumstances behind all four of Tuesday’s attacks were under investigation. No suspects had been identified or arrested in any of the shootings as of Tuesday afternoon.

San Jose has more than 1 million residents, but the city’s homicide and gun violence rates are lower than its peer big cities in the region, San Francisco and Oakland, the latter of which recently recorded its 76th homicide of 2020.