SAN JOSE — Police on Thursday released the photo of a hit-and-run driver suspected of hitting and killing a woman and her adult daughter on an East San Jose street earlier this month, hoping that the public can help investigators track down the man who has so far eluded arrest.
Jose Guadalupe Carrillo-Huizar, 55, is being sought by San Jose police in connection with an April 7 collision on Ocala Avenue near Oakton Court.
According to police, citing home-security and surveillance photos from the area, a man believed to be Carrillo was driving a red full-sized pickup truck west on Ocala around at about 6:25 p.m. that evening when he hit two women walking in a marked crosswalk then drove away.
The women who died were identified by authorities as 75-year-old Narinder Kaur and her 53-year-old daughter Kuljit Kaur, both of San Jose. In a GoFundMe page collecting donations to support their family, Kuljit Kaur’s daughters wrote that the two women were out for an evening walk “and never returned.”
“Our grandmother and mom had waited so long to be together here in the USA. We had recently migrated here to start our new journey and work toward our American dream,” the fundraising page reads. “My mom and grandmother were only able to spend 1 week together here in USA. But unfortunately, our lives were shattered on this sad day … She and our mom were the pillars of the family.”
It was not immediately clear how fast the pickup driver was traveling. The collision occurred in front of a middle-school campus and on a street that has a posted speed limit of 35 mph, or 25 mph when children are present.
Police said that they have recovered the truck they suspect was involved in the crash, which in previously released images resembled a GMC pickup truck with a full cab and a black bed cover. Investigators believe that Carrillo has left the area, and have obtained an arrest warrant for him alleging vehicular homicide and felony hit-and-run crimes against him.
The crash marked the 25th and 26th traffic deaths of the year in San Jose, a total that has since risen to 27. This year is on pace to become the deadliest on city roadways, with a trajectory well above the 25-year peak of 60 deaths reached last year and in 2015 and 2019.
Of the current year’s traffic deaths, 15 involved pedestrian victims. The April 7 collision also marked the city’s seventh fatal hit-and-run case of 2022, according to data compiled by this news organization.
Anyone with information about the April 7 collision can contact SJPD traffic Detective Mike O’Brien at 408-277-4654 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.
Source: www.mercurynews.com