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(Article i found on web about my brothers death...)

San Jose marked its 12th homicide of the year early Saturday, when a bleeding man walked alone into the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center and succumbed to multiple stab wounds.

How the 20-year-old got there — apparently from a South San Jose house party that turned violent — was one of several questions still confronting police deep into Saturday evening, hours after a chaotic scuffle in an otherwise quiet neighborhood sent partygoers fleeing and police cruisers hustling in.

Even by 6 p.m., more than 13 hours after the first calls of gunfire poured in to dispatchers, police tape remained on both ends of the 5200 block of Dent Avenue and investigators remained in front of the house where a fight apparently first erupted.

Earlier Saturday, that cordon stretched over several neighboring blocks, mostly of well-kept ranch houses along Highway 85, as police scoured backyards for witnesses from the party — and possibly more victims.

"It's going to take a little while to decipher what happened," Sgt. Ronnie Lopez, a police spokesman, said Saturday morning, adding later in the day that police would be at the house for "a long time." Further, he said, "we're just methodically searching everything."

Police late Saturday had little new information about what happened, and were unable to provide a description of who might have stabbed the victim, a San Jose resident whose name was not released.


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Lopez said he had no information on how police know the stabbing victim had come from the party where gunshots reportedly were fired.

"There is no motive at this time; it's just too early," Lopez said, adding that it's also too early to know whether the killing was gang-related.

But neighbors, many of whom declined to be identified, said that was the case. Some of them, in discussing what happened, referred to the house where the scuffle erupted — directly across from Appleseed Almaden Montessori School — as the "gang house."

"It's all gang-related," Mike Logan said, adding that neighbors have been reluctant to complain because "they're scared of being retaliated against. We've always had a small gang problem, but it's gotten worse."

Frequent parties

They said loud weekend outdoor parties regularly stretch into the wee hours, often leaving behind liquor bottles and mounds of trash. Sometimes fights, and even gunfire, have been known to spill into the street.

Neighbors say a woman used to live there, and some said they have seen a small child in the yard, but no one said they knew the home's occupants personally.

"We really don't know who really lives there," said Lily Herrera, sitting with relatives and neighbors in her garage Saturday, just a couple of doors away.

One man who lives on Amelia Drive, the block behind Dent, said he has seen people in front of the house while strolling the neighborhood, but never said hello.

"They don't know who we are," he said, "and we pretended we didn't know who they were."

Police swarmed

Herrera said she didn't hear the gunshots, but Logan, who also lives nearby, said he did. He said he came outside and saw a police car down the street — and then a half-dozen cars peeling past his house and 20 to 30 people running toward the elementary school and a footbridge over Highway 85.

Soon, several more police cars arrived and officers began fanning out in search of anyone who might have been hiding.

Now in the aftermath of another chaotic morning, said the neighbor who lives on Amelia Drive, people are starting to band together.

"It's been one of those neighborhoods where people don't really talk," he said. "But now, everyone's like, 'Let's get these guys out of here.' "

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call San Jose Police Department homicide investigators at 408-277-5283. Those who wish to remain anonymous may call 408-947-STOP (7867).

Contact Denis C. Theriault at dtheriault@mercurynews.com or 408-274-2002.



Contact Denis C. Theriault at dtheriault@mercurynews.com or 408-274-2002.
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I found this article on the web about my older brother who was killed.This was also in the newspaper...