SJ murder suspects killed in officer-involved shootings ID'd
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- San Jose police have identified two suspects killed in two separate officer-involved shootings and are asking a third person suspected in the brutal murder of a 38-year-old man to turn himself in. Officials say 29-year-old Matthew Castillo was shot and killed at a strip mall on Senter Road on Sunday and 40-year-old Richard Jacquez was fatally shot at Stoneyhaven Way and Kirkhaven Court in South San Jose on Monday.
On Tuesday, police released part of a surveillance video that they say shocked even veteran police officers. They say it shows the three suspects terrorizing their victim, San Jose resident Christopher Maxwell Wrenn, at an office building on Lundy Avenue before killing him.
At a news conference Tuesday night, police revealed that they've confiscated an assault weapon they believe belonged to Jacquez. Police say he was shot just before 7 p.m. as neighbors were settling in for the evening.
"These are the times we live in and it happens everywhere," said neighbor Cindy Quisenberry. "And I guess in a way we weren't surprised with what's been going on in the area."
Undercover officers had followed him to a relative's home after detectives identified him as a suspect who allegedly terrorized and was involved in the murder of Wrenn last Thursday. They feared he would kill again; this time a woman who'd been in his car.
"We know that this person is suspected of murdering someone else earlier this week," said Sgt. Enrique Garcia. "So the officer fired at the suspect. When the suspect did not comply with the officer's commands, the suspect turned around and the officer fired again."
San Jose police originally said Jacquez reached into his waistband, but clarified Tuesday at a news conference that the suspect did not have a gun on him and was shot first in the back.
An image taken from cellphone video shows the suspect with a wound to the right shoulder and an officer standing over him with a gun deployed on the steps of a relative's house on Kirkhaven Court.
On Tuesday, relatives twice declined interviews on camera. A cousin, however, told ABC7 News off camera that police targeted the wrong person. And another family member told ABC7 News that "He had two kids, a granddaughter, a big heart, he was going to college, trying to get his life on track."
A witness says a woman shown in a photo with a pink tank top on was in the car with the suspect. Police said they had reason to believe she was going to be killed because she had information about a homicide in which Jacquez may have been involved.
Police say the surveillance video shows the suspects terrorizing the victim while armed with a handgun, an assault weapon, and another unidentified weapon.
VIDEO: San Jose police hope video will help find third suspect
"I watched part of a video that shows a horrific encounter where three suspects are terrorizing the victim that they eventually killed," Garcia said. "I can't imagine what the victim was going through as they were terrorizing him before they killed him."
The sergeant made a public statement to the third homicide suspect saying, "Go through an attorney, go through a friend or relative, go through the media, surrender."
The female in the murder suspect's vehicle was taken back to police headquarters. There's no word on if she was injured.
