Three arrested in separate alleged gang-related stabbings in San Jose

SAN JOSE — Prosecutors have filed attempted murder charges against three men in connection with two separate stabbings from earlier in the year that San Jose police are alleging were gang-related attacks, according to authorities and court records.

The most recent case involved an investigation into the stabbing of a teen boy reported the night of June 6 in the 3100 block of Williamsburg Drive. Police allege the boy and 20-year-old Manuel Perez-Gonzalez were fighting when he stabbed the boy and then fled in a car before officers got to the scene.

The boy was taken to a hospital and was treated for what were described by police as life-threatening injuries. Police arrested Perez-Gonzalez on Oct. 1 in San Jose; and subsequently disclosed their suspicion that the stabbing was a gang-related assault.

Perez-Gonzalez was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon Oct. 5 and was arraigned that same day. He is currently being held without bail at the Santa Clara County Main Jail and is set to return to court Nov. 16.

The second assault detailed by police Thursday was reported in the early morning hours of April 10, when officers were dispatched to a report of a stabbing outside a business in the 3800 block of Monterey Highway. They arrived to find that everyone involved had fled, and police later confirmed that a man was fighting with a group of people when members of the group “violently assaulted and stabbed the victim multiple times.”

Police said the wounded man took himself to a hospital, were he was treated for life-threatening injuries, and that detectives found evidence that gang motives fueled the stabbing.

The SJPD Gang Investigations Unit, drawing on license-plate reader data and surveillance videos, identified two suspects: San Jose residents Jose Manuel Valle, 43, and Benjamin Mendez, 25.

They were arrested Sept. 30 in San Jose, and were arraigned Wednesday on charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault. The criminal complaint indicates that Valle was a primary attacker because only his counts were accompanied by charging enhancements for allegedly using a knife and inflicting great bodily injury to the victim.

Both men are being held without bail in the Main Jail; Valle is scheduled to return to court Oct. 26 and Mendez’s next court date is Dec. 17.

Anyone with information about the cases can contact the SJPD Gang Investigations Unit at 408-277-3835. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.