SAN JOSE — Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced Wednesday that his office has filed attempted murder charges against the teenager accused of shooting three people at San Jose’s Westfield Valley Fair mall on Black Friday, including a suspected rival gang member and two shoppers, and will ask a juvenile court judge to move his case to adult court.
“When you’re 17 years old, and you take a loaded gun into a crowded shopping mall and you spray it, and you come within inches of killing someone, feet of killing multiple people, you need to go to prison for that,” Rosen said, while standing in front of a phalanx of TV cameras during a news conference outside the county Juvenile Hall.
Three adults will also be charged as accessories for “harboring” the suspect after he fled the mall, Rosen said. Court records show that includes 21-year-old Allana Nevaeh Murillo, who was seen pushing her baby in a stroller alongside the suspect when the shooting broke out, and two men, one of whom is the suspect’s brother who is in a relationship with Murillo.
The attempted murder charge against the 17-year-old “was for the benefit of a criminal street gang,” Rosen said. The male victim, 28, was shot in the chest but was released from the hospital within days. The suspect was also charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon “causing great bodily injury” to two bystanders, a woman and a 16-year-old girl, who were shot in the legs.
The decision of whether the suspect will prosecuted in juvenile court or adult court will be made by a judge. If the suspect is convicted in juvenile court, Rosen said he will likely face at most three to five years in Juvenile Hall, on what is known as a “secure track,” while an adult conviction could lead to a prison term in which he would have to serve at least 15 years before parole consideration.
“I don’t believe that three to five years in a juvenile facility will rehabilitate this 17 year old … I don’t think it reflects the seriousness of this conduct,” Rosen said. “Taking a loaded firearm into the mall on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and spraying six bullets, is extremely dangerous conduct and will require a significant period of time incarcerated to rehabilitate this person.”
The shooting unfolded around 5:40 p.m. the afternoon of Nov. 28 on a second-floor walkway near the Macy’s women’s store on the San Jose side of the mall.
According to police, the 17-year-old suspect — whose name has been withheld by authorities because he is a minor — was with the three implicated adults when they encountered a group of men who they did not know, but perceived as being associated with a rival street gang based on the colors they were wearing.
A brief verbal interaction ensued, which was quickly followed by the suspect allegedly pulling out a handgun tucked in his waistband and firing a half-dozen shots.
The gunfire touched off a mass panic as shoppers either fled for the exits on their own or in adherence to ad hoc evacuation orders by mall personnel and responding San Jose police officers. Others sought shelter in shops and eateries, and some even received refuge from residents who live across from the mall grounds.
A massive manhunt ensued, headed by SJPD but soon joined by Santa Clara police — who patrol the western half of the mall — the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, FBI and ATF. Police said they tracked the teen suspect to a home in San Jose, where he was arrested Sunday night.
On Monday, authorities revealed that the teen was on probation for a concealed-gun possession charge from February, after receiving a deferred judgment requiring him to fulfill counseling and rehabilitation measures that, if successfully completed, would have led to the charge dismissal.
That the teen was arrested nine months later for a shooting that garnered national headlines prompted San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph, Mayor Matt Mahan and Rosen to renew their criticisms of juvenile justice laws they argued inadequately account for the threat posed by minors accused of gun crimes — regardless of whether a weapon was fired — and other more explicit acts of violence.
They referred to an infamous Valentine’s Day stabbing that killed an unsuspecting 15-year-old boy at nearby Santana Row, another upscale shopping site, allegedly at the hands of a 13-year-old boy. Juvenile crime laws, they asserted, have spurred a gang pathology that deploys young males to carry out violence expressly because of lax punishment.
As it did in February, the stance drew the ire of defense attorneys including the county Public Defender’s Office, which contends that mass incarceration mindsets have not improved public safety, and that youth rehabilitation efforts and community investments in education and employment are the only measures that have provably yielded positive results. They also have bemoaned the highlighting of outlier cases to counteract that reality.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.