SJPD Make Arrests in Trick-or-Treat Attacks
A night of Halloween fun turned into a fight for life for a 12-year-old San Jose boy who was shot in the head while he and his friend were trick-or-treating.
Tuesday morning San Jose police announced they had arrested three suspects in the case.
The boy was shot and his 13-year-old friend was stabbed several times as they went house-to-house Saturday night. Police say the boy who was stabbed will recover. But, the one shot in the head may not.
Instead of sharing laughs and trading candy with his friends, the boy is now in a hospital, struggling to survive.
The principal of Lee Mathson MIddle School where both boys attended said he was overjoyed to hear that police had made arrests in the case.
Orlando Ramos said both children were good students with a nuclear smile. He called them, "the best kids you could ask for."
The boys were trick-or-treating in the 2000 block of Story Road near Hopkins Drive at about 10 p.m. Saturday night when they were attacked by at least two people in a strip mall parking lot. A store owner said one of the boys ran into his store bleeding and asking for help. He said he found the second child in an empty parking space with a gunshot wound.
"We believe the motive is gang-related," said SJPD spokesman Ronnie Lopez. Police say they have no indication that the victims have gang ties.
Because of the severity of the crime, the homicide unit is handling the investigation, Lopez said.
Posted Tuesday, Nov 3, 2009 - 9:26 PM PST
