Man stabbed and killed near San Jose homeless encampment
Man stabbed and killed near San Jose homeless encampment
San Jose Police say a man was stabbed Tuesday near a homeless encampment and later died at the hospital. Investigators believe he had been in a physical altercation prior to the stabbing incident and now advocates are talking about what was happening there.
SAN JOSE, CA - San Jose police say a man was stabbed Tuesday near a homeless encampment and later died at the hospital. Investigators believe he had been in a physical altercation prior to the stabbing incident and now advocates are talking about what was happening there.
In 2022, San Jose airport officials required the area be cleared of encampments and the city complied. But this incident happened at an encampment just across the street, and some people there say the city hasn’t given them the assistance they promised, so they can move away.
"He was a good guy, a youngster. He’s known for helping women out, helping a lot of people out. Dancing to music, he loved Michael Jackson," said Eugene Blackwell, who lives in the encampment near Taylor and Spring Streets.
Blackwell says the man stabbed and killed was known as Chongo. He says tensions in the encampment were boiling over after a recent visit from city workers.
"Sometimes we run into situations where there are men putting their hands on women and we step in and say no, that’s not going to happen. He’s one of those men that would do that, as well as myself. So, I don’t blame him if that is the case, I don’t blame him," said Blackwell.
Neither San Jose police nor Santa Clara County’s Coroner have confirmed the man’s identity or released any information about how or why he was stabbed. The incident happened directly across from the area cleared of homeless encampments in 2022, after the San Jose Mineta International Airport declared it unsafe for people to live there.
"People who are disproportionately people who are brown and black, have been abandoned here. Many people were told during the initial sweep that they were going to have their vehicles repaired and they didn’t. So, many people have just been marooned here waiting for vehicles to be repaired," said Shaunn Cartwright, with Unhoused Response Group.
Blackwell says people living in the encampment do what they can to keep each other safe and many of them have no idea where they’d go if they were forced to leave.
"There are a lot of us that are unsure about our destiny or our future as far as housing goes. I had a Section 8 voucher and wasn’t told that it expires. My caseworker quit, so now I’ve been in limbo for a year now," said Blackwell.
KTVU reached out to the mayor’s office for comment about this encampment and this stabbing incident, but they didn’t respond in time for this report. This was the fifth homicide of the year in San Jose.
Featured
Gov. Newsom will send funding to San Jose, not premade tiny homes as promised
San Jose officials will need to scour the upcoming budget to find additional funding for 200 tiny homes slated to be put on the VTA North San Jose site, this after Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will send money, but not pre-constructed units to multiple cities around the state.