San Jose police are targeting gang members responsible for violent crime spree

For nearly a year, from November 2023 to September 2024, San José Police Patrol officers responded to multiple violent crimes terrorizing neighborhoods on the southwestern edge of the city. Help is now in sight, the police report.

Residents of the Loma Verde and Cadillac/Winchester neighborhoods were victims of attacks with deadly weapons, carjackings and theft. When detectives investigated, they determined that most of these crimes were gang-related, targeting not only rival gang members but also community members in the two neighborhoods.

The San Jose Police Department announced today that the department’s Gang Investigations Unit was able to link many of these crimes to a known violent gang, and has identified eight prime suspects, including two juveniles, who were arrested during coordinated raids of Oct. 15 to 17, with the assistance of multiple agencies: the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Salinas Valley State Prison-Gang Investigations, the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, the Santa Clara County Adult Probation Department and the city police Special Operations Violent Crimes Enforcement Team, Metro Unit, Street Crimes Unit, Robbery Unit, Dangerous Offender Suppression Team and Patrol Officers.

The suspects were identified in a news release as Josue Castro, 22; Jonathan Rodriguez, 26; Daniel Romo, 21; Luis Arizmendi-Bravo, 20; Joe Maldonado, 21; Erick Curiel, 19 and two young male suspects.

During the execution of the search warrants, the detectives seized evidence related to the crimes committed, various gang intelligence and indications, live ammunition and a fully automatic submachine gun, according to police.

The six adult suspects were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail and the two juvenile suspects were booked into the Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall for various violent crimes.

Anyone with information about these cases or similar cases is asked to contact the San José Police Gang Investigations Unit at 408-277-3835.