SAN JOSE — Police have announced an arrest in a brazen 2018 shooting outside a South San Jose restaurant that injured three people and nearly wounded a child following a clash inside the eatery.
Miguel Vergara Perez, 26, of Rohnert Park, was arrested in December in connection with the Aug. 9, 2018 shooting in front of the La Victoria restaurant on Almaden Expressway near Cherry Avenue, according to a San Jose Police Department news release posted Wednesday. His attempted murder charges were greenlit for trial after a preliminary hearing in late January.
Police say Vergara Perez was with a man and woman, and all of them were seen in surveillance video arguing with another group inside the restaurant. When the confrontation spilled outside, a man seen in footage wearing a dark Golden State Warriors baseball cap pulled out a gun and opened fire with several bystanders nearby.
Three men were hit by the gunfire. The gunman was eventually identified as Vergara Perez by SJPD detectives, who re-opened the shooting investigation in November “after developing new leads,” police said.
On Dec. 12, police arrested Vergara Perez in Rohnert Park. Jail records show he was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail that same day, and is currently being held without bail. The police news release did not give an explanation for why the arrest was announced more than two months after it took place.
Vergara Perez was charged with three counts of attempted murder Dec. 14; on Jan. 19, the felony case advanced toward trial following a preliminary hearing, according to court records. Each of the counts carries a potential 25 years-to-life prison sentence and is accompanied by charging enhancements — one of them for use of a gun — that could add lengthen the prison term if he is convicted.
Anyone with information about the case can contact the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. Ivan Barragan at 4106@sanjoseca.gov or Detective Catherine Van Brande at 4542@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.
