SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – Santana Row in San Jose was bustling with {couples} who have been out for romantic dates and heading to eating places with dinner reservations on Valentine’s Day. A type of {couples} included a boy and lady, each 15 years previous. The boy, David S. Gutierrez of Redwood Metropolis, stunned his girlfriend by taking her to a Santana Row restaurant, the lady advised police.
A number of surveillance cameras positioned on buildings and corners overlooking Santana Row recorded Gutierrez’s final night alive. The cameras additionally recorded a gaggle of teenaged gang members. San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph mentioned the group was “actively seeking a confrontation.”
The youngest of the gang members — a 13-year-old boy — brutally stabbed Gutierrez to demise with a knife in entrance of his girlfriend, investigators mentioned.
David S. Gutierrez is seen in pictures courtesy GoFundMe.
Santa Clara County court docket paperwork and surveillance pictures obtained by KRON4 reveal what allegedly led as much as the stunning murder.
One picture exhibits the 5 teenaged suspects coming into Cinemark Santana Row movie show at 6:55 p.m. 4 of the boys are carrying purple clothes to disguise themselves as Norteno gang members, detectives mentioned. In reality, the group is a part of a Sureno avenue gang that wears blue, in line with detectives. They left minutes later after utilizing the theater’s toilet and ingesting fountain.
The group enters Cinemark movie show on Feb. 14, 2025. (Picture through Santa Clara County Court docket)
Gutierrez was standing outdoors El Jardin Restaurant at 7:12 p.m. He was carrying stable purple Nike sneakers, a purple jacket, tan denims, a CMC belt, and a black puffer jacket. The group confronted the lone boy and attacked him till a safety guard intervened.
The group is seen attacking a 15-year-old boy on Santana Row. (Picture through Santa Clara County Court docket)
In line with Gutierrez’s girlfriend, one boy within the group requested, “Why he was wearing red?” A security guard heard the group saying, “F**k your colors” and cussing on the sufferer. The sufferer was laying on the bottom in a defensive place because the group punched and kicked him, court docket paperwork state.
The guard “started to break up the fight and pushing and pulling people apart,” court docket paperwork state.
Whereas 4 boys within the group, ages 18-16, fled from the assault scene on foot, the 13-year-old boy stayed behind. One minute later, the 13-year-old boy pulled out a knife and stabbed Gutierrez thrice.
The sufferer’s household mentioned Gutierrez, a Sequoia Excessive Faculty pupil, was stabbed by means of the center.
San Jose’s police chief mentioned Gutierrez had zero ties to gangs, and he was “tragically just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” His youthful killer hid the knife and ran away from the murder scene.
Gutierrez’s girlfriend and different witnesses tried CPR till paramedics arrived. He was declared deceased at a hospital.
Days after the Valentine’s killing, police arrested a 13-year-old boy on suspicion of homicide. Three 16-year-old San Jose boys have been booked into Santa Clara County Juvenile Corridor for assault.
The one grownup arrested within the Valentine’s case, 18-year-old Emanuel Sanchez-Damian of Campbell, appeared nervous when he made his first court docket look on Tuesday afternoon. Sanchez-Damian is charged with assaulting Gutierrez earlier than the sufferer was slain.
Emanuel Sanchez-Damian, 18, is seen in a Feb. 21, 2025 mugshot launched by the San Jose Police Division.
Regardless of objections from his protection legal professional, a choose denied granting bail and set Sanchez-Damian’s arraignment for Could 15. The choose mentioned Sanchez-Damian is just too harmful to be free of custody pending trial.
Sanchez-Damian can also be charged with robbing a second sufferer inside Valley Honest mall. A prosecutor mentioned the sufferer was overwhelmed by the group not lengthy earlier than Gutierrez was attacked on Santana Row. The mall’s surveillance cameras confirmed the group attacking the second sufferer and stealing his sneakers at 6:41 p.m.
“All five suspects began to assault, kick, stomp, knee, and strike the victim while he is onthe ground,” court docket paperwork state.
The group is seen inside Valley Honest mall. (Picture through Santa Clara County Court docket)
Prosecutors added gang enhancements to prices filed in opposition to Sanchez-Damian Tuesday.
Joseph mentioned his officers are seeing a disturbing sample with gangs utilizing their youngest members as “killing tools.” Extra juveniles are “committing more violent crimes without recourse. The killing tool of choice is now a juvenile,” the police chief siad.
If a 13-year-old suspect is discovered responsible of homicide, he’ll probably serve simply eight months in an unlocked ranch facility, Joseph mentioned. “Young offenders who take life, commit murder, or other atrocities face only a few months … or maybe a handful of years … in custody before they are released back into our neighborhoods,” Joseph mentioned.
San Jose Police Division gang unit detectives initially thought the group who ambushed Gutierrez have been Nortenos as a result of they have been carrying purple. After discovering, questioning, and arresting the 5 suspects, detectives realized that purple clothes was used as a ruse by Surenos, who sometimes put on blue, to disguise their true affiliation, detectives wrote in court docket paperwork.
“Emanuel Sanchez-Damien is a documented Varrio Sureno Town (VST) Sureno gang member,” court docket paperwork state.
The Varrio Sureno City gang, aka the Malos, has a historical past of stealing “rival gang attire as a sign of dominance (and) keeping such items as trophies or mementos of past conflicts,” detectives wrote in court docket paperwork.
Detectives additionally discovered images of the boys by means of their mother and father’ Instagram accounts exhibiting the kids carrying blue.
