San Jose Man Shot To Death, City’s First Homicide Of 2014

San José Police have begun an investigation into the city’s first homicide of 2014. A man was reportedly shot and killed in the eastern part of the city early Thursday morning. As the first homicide of the new year, this is one event that isn’t going to be celebrated.

NBC Bay Area News stated that the emergency call came in at 1:26 AM after a woman discovered a man lying in her driveway at the 1600 block of East San Antonio Street. Witnesses stated that they remembered hearing gunshots in the early hours of the morning, but most didn’t see the man.

Martin Hernandez told reporters that he rushed to his window after hearing gunfire outside his home at around 12:45 AM. He told reporters that even though he heard the gunshots, and later found two bullets lodged in his fence, he had missed seeing the injured man who had been lying in the dirt near the end of his driveway. Police say that the man, whom they believe may be in his 20’s, was lying in the street for anywhere between 45 and 50 minutes before someone found him and called 911.

While this my have been the first homicide of the year for San José, The Inquisitr recently reported on the number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths for the area in 2013 and found the number of deaths for the city hit a 15-year high.

The report stated that with 26 deaths, it is the highest total that the city of San José has experienced since 1997. It is also reportedly the highest number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths in any city in the Bay Area.

As for San Jose’s first homicide of 2014, police have said the man, whose identity hasn’t been released, was transported to a local hospital. The San Francisco Chronicle stated that he later was pronounced dead from his gunshot wound. Police say that there is currently no known motive for the shooting and no suspects.

[Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr]