San Jose police along with other law enforcement agencies earlier this month arrested six men suspected of a gang-motivated assault on a man in October, resulting in the recovery of several illegal weapons, drugs and tens of thousands in cash, according to the police department.
The suspects arrested on March 20 were Southern California residents Francis Ocampo, 34; Anthony Nguyen, 31; Branden Un, 28; Bao Nguyen, 31; Tri Nguyen, 38; and San Jose resident Christian Sung, 31.
The assault took place at about 11 p.m. Oct. 18, 2023, at a business in the 2300 block of Senter Road, police said. The victim suffered non-life threatening injuries.
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SJPD detectives from Gang Investigations Unit determined the assault to be gang-motivated and got arrest warrants and search warrants for the suspects' homes in San Jose, Garden Grove, Westminster and Santa Ana.
“This was a very complex operation that involved multiple suspects throughout California,” said Stacie Shih of the San Jose Police Department.
During the home searches, police said they seized the following: an assault rifle; 15 handguns, including one stolen, three privately made and 11 unregistered; a 3-D printer; firearm parts and ghost gun precursor parts; more than $80,000 in cash; 13.5 kilos of MDMA; 6 kilos of methamphetamine; 2 kilos of cocaine; and 2 kilos of heroin.
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Sung was arrested by SJPD in San Jose and booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail. The other five suspects were arrested by various agencies at their Southern California homes and booked into Orange County Jail, police said.
“I think with any suspects that we take off the street that’s one less person who has a firearm, that’s one less person who can be a victim of a shooting or stabbing,” said Shih.
All six suspects face charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
“Getting guns out of a house, getting guns out of the hands of people, cannot legally handle them is more important than people realize,” said Danny Garza, who has spent decades trying to get gangs off the street in east San Jose.
The community advocate says arresting just one gang member reduces crime, and he’s seen how it can change a neighborhood.
“One person got arrested and for two months everything went away,” said Garza. “The person gets out of jail and everything comes back. That’s how important one arrest can be, it doesn’t matter where it is.”
He hopes San Jose will get more officers to boost these types of investigations.
Anyone with information about the case should contact Detective Balala or Officer Kim of the San José Police Gang Investigations Unit via email: 4386@sanjoseca.gov/4718@sanjoseca.gov or 408-277-3835.
