GILROY — A shooting early Saturday left one person dead and three injured after a fight broke out at an outdoor gathering at the home of Gilroy City Council Member Rebeca Armendariz.
According to Gilroy police, they received a 911 call at about 12:55 a.m. Saturday about a shooting in the 400 block of Las Animas Avenue in Gilroy. The home is in a semi-rural stretch of Las Animas Avenue that fronts U.S. Highway 101.
When officers arrived at the home, they encountered a large outdoor party, which some reports said was a Halloween party. Police also learned that a fight had broken out just before they arrived, with at least one person firing a gun. Four people had been shot, with one male declared dead.
The other victims were taken to area hospitals, two with life-threatening injuries. It’s not clear whether Armendariz was home at the time, according to Gilroy police Sgt. Lamonte Toney. Mayor Marie Blankley said she understood that the councilwoman was not one of the people injured. She said she had sent Armendariz “my thoughts and prayers.”
Toney added that police were still interviewing witnesses to identify a suspect and to determine what sparked the fight. He said information about the victims was not yet available, and the identity of the deceased was pending notification of next of kin.
Armendariz was elected to the City Council in 2020, bringing to the position a professional background and personal history in activism and community organizing. She is a founding board member of CARAS (Community Agency for Resources, Advocacy and Services), a nonprofit that focuses on advocacy, service and cultural events, the Gilroy Dispatch reported.
“My life and career have been spent advocating for youth, workers, women, and immigrants, including many of our essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Armendariz said in a 2020 campaign statement.
She unsuccessfully ran for the City Council in 2012 and previously served on the city’s Planning Commission, Housing Advisory Committee, Parks and Recreation Commission and Community Block Grant Advisory Committee.
Her LinkedIn page shows that she works as a union representative for the Operating Engineers Local No. 3 in Santa Clara County, which represents workers in construction, as well as highway maintenance workers, police officers and other public employees.
After being elected, Armendariz said she was “so humbled and grateful to all of my community for believing in me and supporting me in this effort,” the Gilroy Dispatch reported.
Source: www.mercurynews.com