November 5, 2004

Suspects in custody for fatal ambush at Dove Hill Park

Investigation still open, SJPD asking for witnesses to come forward

By Mariecar Mendoza
Staff Writer

On Oct. 23 at 2:51 a.m. 911 calls flooded the phone lines when several Evergreen residents in the area of Deans Place Way and Polton Place Way reported hearing gunfire and vehicles speeding off. Later that day, the community was informed that 17-year-old Bobby Tang was discovered shot near Dove Hill Park.

Found in his mother’s green Honda sedan, Tang was pronounced “dead on the scene.” Police have not released information on whether Tang was in the driver’s seat, but say he had four other passengers with him at the time of the crime as well as one or two vehicles full of associates following behind him. When police arrived, neither suspects nor Tang’s passengers were present.

At the start of the case, it took several hours to identify Tang, said Sergeant Steve Dixon of the San Jose Police Department. He said that the identification process began with running a search on the vehicle’s registration.

“Once we did that, then things started coming together,” Sgt. Dixon said. “We started interviewing more and more people who knew Bobby and got more information about these two groups of Asian males who had some sort of dispute.”

The SJPD learned that the two groups of Asian males—one group including Tang and his associates and the other group including current suspects Huy Tran, Joel Castillo and Narinder Singh—had agreed to settle a dispute at 3 a.m. that Saturday morning at Dove Hill Park. The motive has yet to be established.

“We know that the suspect and his group got to the park before Bobby, and they basically waited for him to get there,” said Sgt. Dixon. “Once Bobby and his group came around the corner and drove up to the scene, the suspects opened fire. It’s the classic ambush; he never had a chance.”

The SJPD has emphasized that though the ambush was “gang-like,” the incident was not gang related.

“These were not validated gang members,” said Sgt. Dixon, who compared this incident to another murder case in January 2003 that occurred at Flickinger Park where a San Jose State University Asian-American fraternity member was killed.

“The behavior was very similar in that they were ‘gang-like.’ I say that meaning, for one group to agree to meet another group in the park to fight, that’s ‘gang-like’ behavior. But none of these young men were gang members.”

Officer Enrique Garcia of the SJPD, who was one of the initial press information officers at the scene of the crime, also said that aside from the 911 calls regarding the sound of gunfire, a call was received about a stray bullet hitting an Evergreen resident’s home located on Garret Place.

“I don’t know the exact distance, but we’re talking about several blocks away from the actual shooting. So our obvious concern was were there any other homes [hit] and most importantly, was anyone injured as a result of these stray bullets?” Garcia said. After an extensive search of the area by the SJPD patrol and investigators, it was confirmed that no one was injured.

“We knew from the fact this home was hit—at a distance away—that the suspect was not using a handgun, but probably a long rifle, which it turned out to be,” said Dixon.

“The suspects were obviously firing at the vehicle, but the gunfire had sprayed so many bullets that it was really amazing that no one else got hit here,” continued Dixon. “In the victim’s vehicle, there were five people, and Bobby was the only one hit. That’s almost unbelievable.”

Later that evening, 18-year-old suspect Tran surrendered to investigators.

“Our investigators here did a great job with interviews and the word got out pretty quickly,” Sgt. Dixon said. “Huy Tran did find out Saturday night that we were looking for him and, I think with the advice of his father, turned himself in.”

As for the other two suspects, 18-year-old Singh and 19-year-old Castillo, they were later spotted in Coalinga, Calif. off of Interstate 5 after a statewide All Points Bulletin (APB) helped tip off the California Highway Patrol.

CHP Officers, who found the two in a Toyota van at 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 24, detained them. They were later brought back to San Jose were the two suspects were interviewed by investigators and booked into the Santa Clara County jail.

Currently, all three are in custody with no bail, and all are charged with murder. Dixon did not comment on which one of the suspects is believed to be the gunman, but felt confident that the three in custody were the main participants in the murder. If convicted, all are facing life in prison.

Oct. 27 was the first time all three suspects appeared in San Jose’s Hall of Justice on murder charges, and Nov. 3 was their first date to enter a plea. According to Deputy District Attorney Kathy Wells, who will be prosecuting the case, appearances were made by Tran and Singh’s attorneys at Wednesday’s meeting.

Castillo had not secured an attorney by that date. As a result, there will be a continuance to allow for all suspects’ attorneys to be identified. Wells confirmed that no pleas were made, and that the next date for all suspects to enter a plea will be Nov. 30 at 2 p.m.

At this time, no dates have been set for the preliminary hearing or trial, and the investigation is still open.

“We still want to talk to additional people, especially witnesses out there who may have some information—and a witness could be someone that didn’t necessarily see the incident happen. A witness could be somebody that knows about what happened because that’s just as important,” said Officer Garcia.

Tang, a senior at Silver Creek High School, is the twenty-second homicide victim in San Jose this year.

“We beefed up security [at Silver Creek High School], but not because we were afraid something was going to happen," said Chief Safety, Security, and Student Services Officer Ric Abeyta. "We did it to ensure that the students and their families would feel safer, because the extra presence of officers tends to do that.”