Man charged in fatal College Park shooting in San Jose

SAN JOSE — A man has been charged with murder in connection with a late-night shooting outside a College Park-area liquor store last week during a sequence in which he and the victim appeared to be acting friendly moments before a struggle inside the defendant’s car that ended with gunfire.

The shooting was reported at 11:02 p.m. the night of Sept. 2 outside a mini-mart on Stockton Avenue near West Taylor Street, according to San Jose police. Responding police officers found a man suffering from gunshot injuries; he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

His name has not been by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office, but a criminal complaint filed Tuesday identifies the victim as 40-year-old Monty Mendoza. Andre Duckett, a 39-year-old San Jose resident, has been charged with murder and for illegally possessing a firearm as a felon; he was previously convicted for statutory rape in Contra Costa County.

After the shooting, San Jose homicide detectives reviewed surveillance video from the liquor store, as well as from a nearby home, which they say showed Duckett pull up to the store in a brown Chevy Caprice and exit from his car dressed in a security uniform, according to a probable cause affidavit filed with the charges.

Mendoza was seen arriving about five minutes later, and the two men appeared to acknowledge each other, followed by Duckett entering the store then leaving; the video, the affidavit states, showed that they “fist-bumped and briefly hugged.”

Then Mendoza entered the store, and soon after Duckett could be seen getting into his car and driving toward the store entrance, followed by the sight of Duckett stopping and opening his car door. Mendoza stood in the “threshold of the driver’s seat” as Duckett remained seated, and after a 90-second conversation, the two reportedly got into a struggle, during which two gunshots were heard, the affidavit states.

After Duckett drove off, Mendoza could be seen taking a few steps before he fell to the ground. Detectives wrote in the affidavit that they matched images from the surveillance video to existing photographs of Duckett, and that an uninvolved police officer recognized Duckett from a previous police stop and also matched him to the surveillance images.

Investigators tracked Duckett’s car and arrested him Sept. 3 in Oakland, after which he was booked into the county Main Jail.

Anyone with information related to the case can contact the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. Ivan Barragan at [email protected], Detective Mike Harrington at [email protected]. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.