Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen is seeking to transfer the case of the Valley Fair Mall shooter from juvenile court to adult court.
The District Attorney’s Office today formally charged a San Jose 17-year-old with attempted murder and assault with a semi-automatic firearm for shooting three people at the Westfield Valley Fair Mall during one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Prosecutors said the teen fired six times, striking a perceived gang rival in the chest and hitting two young women who were at the mall shopping. All survived.
A juvenile justice court judge will decide where the case will be adjudicated. A juvenile court judge today kept the suspect in custody, awaiting a Dec. 12, hearing in Santa Clara County Juvenile Court.
“This teenager turned Valley Fair Mall into a war zone,” Rosen said in a statement. “Six bullets hit three people, shut down the city’s largest mall and sent fear through our community. We are filing the most serious charges and asking that they be heard in adult court, where the consequences reflect the recklessness and danger of fighting a senseless gang war inside a mall crowded with holiday shoppers.”
The DA’s Office, through its Victim Services Unit’s Mariposas Resiliency Center, is offering free counseling and advocacy to qualified people who were there and traumatized by the shooting. For those in immediate need, drop-in services will be available in collaboration with the Bill Wilson Center today and Friday.
Rosen provided more details about the Nov. 28 shooting, which sent hundreds of panicked shoppers running for cover, and shutting down the mall until noon the next day.
He said that at 5:35pm, Nov. 28, “the suspect was walking with a group on the second floor of the city’s largest mall.”
“He pulled a semi-automatic handgun and fired six shots toward a 28-year-old man who was standing outside of a clothing store,” Rosen said in a press release. “One bullet struck the victim in the chest. Two other bullets struck two women who were shopping nearby. The suspect and acquaintances fled.
Police arrested the suspect on Nov. 30 at a home in San Jose.
If anyone has information they would like to share with the police about the shooting, they can email 46**@*******ca.gov or 45**@*******ca.gov.
