No charges for teen arrested after fatal shooting

‘This is about justice’: Victim’s great-uncle calls on witnesses to step forward and speak out

Suggesting they need more evidence, prosecutors declined to charge a man arrested in a fatal shooting of a teen at a weekend house party in Gilroy — prompting the slain teen’s family to urge fellow partygoers to “step up” and speak to detectives.

“I am tired of cowards who say, ‘I don’t want to get involved,’ ” Manuel Macias, 60, the slain teen’s great-uncle. “This is about justice.”

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office decision, announced Wednesday, cleared the way for the release of Benjamin Calderon, 19. He had been held without bail at the Main Jail in San Jose since his arrest over the weekend in connection with the shooting on Las Animas Avenue in Gilroy.

Michael Daniel Zuniga Macias, 18, was killed and three other people were wounded when gunfire erupted shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday, sending partygoers fleeing into the night from a property on the dead-end road in Gilroy. One of the two houses on the property is the home of Gilroy City Councilwoman Rebeca Almendariz, whose cousin is Calderon’s father.

The DA’s Office declined to file charges “pending further investigation,” said Angela Bernhard, the office’s chief trial deputy, in a statement.

“This was a large, chaotic Halloween party that ended with a tragic shooting and homicide,” Bernhard’s statement said.

A few hours after the prosecutor’s announcement, Macias’ great-uncle told the Bay Area News Group he was “not interested in the roller coaster of the evidence” but instead asked that people at the party speak up and cooperate with investigators. He previously decried the gun violence in Gilroy as “madness” that needs to stop.

“Justice is about people who were at the party stepping up and saying, ‘This is what I saw,’ ” Macias said. “Be an honorable human being and stand up.”

When approached at a house in Gilroy, a woman who said she was Calderon’s mother declined

to comment Wednesday.

Gilroy police have said that investigators suspect at least one other person was involved in the shooting. But they have not released any information about that person, nor any details about what role they suspected Calderon played in the shooting.

Investigators found two guns at the scene, though it was not immediately clear whether either was used in the shooting itself, Gilroy police said.

Questions have continued to mount for Armendariz, including how the party was planned and promoted and where Armendariz was when the bullets started flying. She was absent from the City Council’s meeting Monday, and she has not returned several calls seeking comment.

The councilwoman previously told television station ABC7 said she was home during the shooting but that she was not part of the party. It took place in her side yard, she told the television station, and there’s a second home on the property.

Macias added he feels “compassion” for Armendariz, whom he said he spoke to after the shooting and whom he praised for having made improvements in the community since she joined the City Council in 2020. He also said he had “compassion” for Calderon for having been arrested without enough evidence to face charges.

Anyone with any information about the weekend shooting can contact Detective Chris Silva at 408846-0335 or leave an anonymous tip with the Gilroy Police Department at 408846-0330.