2 people shot before car crashes into San Jose home, bursts into flames
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A quiet neighborhood on Liska Lane near Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center turned into chaos just before 5 a.m. Thursday when San Jose police said a man driving a car was shot and killed.
Witnesses too afraid to reveal their identities were left stunned.
"I just hear ‘boom, boom,’ I get up and look out my window and hear a woman screaming, and then you hear another ‘boom, boom,’ and then you hear [screeching tires] boom."
A woman who was a passenger in the car was also shot. Witnesses said a white Volvo with no license plates came speeding out of an apartment parking lot from across the street before crashing right into the garage of a home and bursting into flames.
A witness who called 911 told KTVU, "I’m looking out my window and I run outside, and I hear a woman screaming."
Rescuers pulled the man from the burning car, but despite their efforts, could not save his life.
He died at the scene.
"Very traumatizing, scary, too close to home," an unnamed witness said.
The family that lives in the now damaged two-story home, which neighbors said includes nine children, managed to escape unharmed as firefighters got the blaze under control.
"There’s so many children that’s just really terrifying for anyone to go through," a witness said.
Neighbors say police arrived within minutes of the shooting, and they were told to evacuate in case the fire spread.
"Terrifying for sure," said a witness who recalled seeing several shell casings outside an apartment where the car took off from.
"Like, to be in a residential area like that and to be shooting, that’s just not okay," a neighbor said. "I hope that whoever they are, they get captured, and they get put in jail."
According to San Jose police, the suspect got away before officers arrived.
Detectives are still piecing together what led up to the shooting.
The Santa Clara County Coroner’s office was still working to contact the victim’s family on Friday before releasing his name.
This marks the 18th homicide in San Jose this year.
As far as the woman who was shot at least once, she was expected to survive.
Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to give them a call.