San Jose family makes plea in man's unsolved murder

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) - A San Jose family made an emotional plea, grieving over the shooting death of a 21-year-old man. Brian Castro was gunned down at an Arco gas station in South San Jose last week. So far, the case is unsolved. Loved ones believe it may have been an attempted robbery gone bad.

“He was everything to me,” said Lizbeth Castro, the victim’s sister. “We were so close to each other.”

At their San Jose home, the family of Brian Castro remembered him as a devoted brother, son and a father.

“My brother was a loving and caring person,” said Lizbeth Castro. “He was a sweetheart. Everything he did, it was for love.”

“The family is devastated.” said Charles Najar from the Streets to the Grave nonprofit that works with homicide victims. “He left behind a three-year-old boy who they haven't told yet. He’s asking where Papi is? It’s hard.”

Last Thursday, just before two in the morning Castro and a friend were at the Arco gas station on Senter Road and Capitol Expressway just a half a mile away from his house. They were there to fill up his gas tank when someone shot him and his friend. They drove themselves to Kaiser Permanente in San Jose, where Castro died from his injuries. His friend, a passenger, survived.

“Sometimes people say well it's another gang issue and so on, from what I could see, the guys I interacted with there was none of that present,” said Najar. 

Castro worked as a construction roofer. His passion was cars fixing up cars. He was driving an AMG Mercedes Benz at the time of the shooting. Loved ones said he was at the wrong place, at the wrong time. 

The family is hoping surveillance video from the gas station will lead to the killer.

“I’m just hoping whoever committed this crime will find God and can be guided to the right path,” said Marco Castro, the victim’s brother.

They hope their plea will encourage witnesses to come forward. Loved ones said Castro was planning to propose to his girlfriend and raise his young son.

“We don't want other families to suffer because we know how it feels,” said Castro. “We don’t want other families to suffer like we do.”

Last year, San Jose had 27 homicides total. Police said Castro is the city’s 24th homicide with more than four months to go.