The reward to find a second suspect in a violent crime spree over the weekend that left one innocent man dead and an officer injured was upped on Monday to $20,000.
Half the money is from the San Jose police officers union and the other half is from the city of San Jose. Mayor Chuck Reed announced the city's $10,000 contribution at a Monday news conference held at San Jose police headquarters.
Not many more details were revealed at the news conference regarding six separate crime scenes in the span of about 90 minutes on Friday night. Aside from robberies and carjackings, a 22-year-old man, Rory Parkpettiford, was shot dead in his car as he was in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven on South Kieley Avenue. Police believe he was killed in a carjacking that went bad.
Parkpettiford's friend, Steven Mosley, told NBC Bay Area on Monday that his slain buddy was "full of life," and that their large circle of friends are "devastated."
One man, Jonathan Wilbanks, 26, was arrested following in connection with the death, and police made an urgent plea for the public to come forward to help find his partner in crime. Assistant Chief Rikki Goede said: "We do believe there are people out there who know who this suspect is."
Goede then reiterated the chronology of events that began on Friday evening:
- 7:25 p.m. Two suspects robbed a Little Caesar's Pizza in the 2800 block of Story Road.
- 7:40 p.m. Two suspects robbed a gas station in the 1000 block of E. Capitol Expressway.
- 8:43 p.m. The suspects robbed a Jack in the Box restaurant in the 600 block of Curtner Avenue.
- 8:58 p.m. The suspects robbed a spa in the 1400 block of Bird Avenue.
- 9:01 p.m., The suspects attempted to carjack Parkpettiford, who was shot during the attempt and was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Then, at 9:13 P.M. a police officer who had been given a description of the suspect vehicle, spotted the car on Highway 280 near Highway 101.
The officer followed the suspect vehicle to the Tully Road and Lanai Avenue while waiting for backup. He spotted them at a red light, when suddenly, police said they hopped out of the car and began shooting at the officer who was still in his patrol car.
Officer Bruce Barthelemy, who was also stopped at the intersection, returned fire at the suspects striking one of them. One officer, who has not been identified, was injured during the shootout, but he is expected to be OK. The 10-year veteran of the department wasn't hit directly from any rounds but suffered minor injuries from bullet fragments and fragments from his pepper spray canister when the canister was hit by a round and exploded, Sgt. Jason Dwyer said previously.
Both suspects got back into their car and fled. One hopped out of the car and ran away on foot - he is still at large.
Police said the other suspect, now identified as Wilbanks, kept driving until his car crashed on Cunningham Avenue on the west side of Reid Hillview Airport. He started running and eventually entered a random residence through a back door, police said. The occupants of the house alerted officers to the suspect's location. Special Operations teams including MERGE and METRO officers surrounded the home and later took the Wilbanks custody without incident. He had two non-life threatening gunshot wounds when officers arrested him.
Wilbanks was booked into jail for murder, two counts of attempted murder, four counts of robbery, burglary and auto theft. His first court appearance is set for Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Anyone with information regarding the above incidents are urged to contact Detective Sergeant Craig Storlie of the San Jose Police Department's Homicide Unit at (408)277-5283. Anyone who wants to information anonymously may contact Silicon Valley Crimestoppers at (408)947-STOP(7867) or may visit www.tipsubmit.com and may be eligible for a reward.
NBC Bay Area's Kris Sanchez contributed to this report. Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-432-4758 or lisa.fernandez@nbcuni.com.
