Update: Two Dead, Others Seriously Injured In Stabbing At San Jose’s Grace Baptist Church

[PeteS in CA]

Update: Two Dead, Others Seriously Injured In Stabbing At San Jose’s Grace Baptist Church

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/11/23/stabbing-at-san-jose-church-multiple-victims-transported-for-treatment/

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) — Two people were killed and others seriously injured Sunday in a multiple stabbing at San Jose’s Grace Baptist Church where homeless were spending the night to escape the cold, authorities said.

San Jose police tweeted around 8:47 p.m. that officers were responding to the church located at 484 E San Fernando St near the San Jose State campus.

They followed with a posting at 9:30 p.m. saying — “We can confirm we have multiple stabbing victims; some with life threatening injuries.”

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo confirmed that at least two of the victims had died.

There's some sloppy language usage in this article. "Houseless" usually means someone or a family that usually has a job but temporarily is living in a van or a motorhome because they cannot afford to rent an apartment. Some park in large parking lots whose owners are accommodating (e.g. at a Target a couple miles from us). There are also a number of churches that take turns allowing as many as their parking lots can accommodate to park there. Usually these folks would not need to be allowed inside a building due to cold weather (the low temp last night was 36F).

I'm guessing these people - victims and the stabber - are homeless people of doubtful sobriety and/or sanity. I appreciate that this church apparently was practicing what they preach, but I wonder if they understand how to work with the people they hoped to help.

[PeteS in CA]

From SJPD:

https://www.sjpd.org/Home/Components/News/News/192/262

On November 22nd, 2020, at approximately 7:54 PM, Officers responded to the Grace Baptist Church on the 400 block of East San Fernando Street on a report of a stabbing. When they arrived, they located five victims suffering from at least one stab wound each. An adult male victim was declared deceased at the scene. A second adult female victim was transported to a local hospital where she succumbed to her injuries and was declared deceased.

Three other adult male victims were transported to local hospitals. They are in serious but stable condition.

There is currently one adult male suspect in custody. The motive and circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

The Church is used as a homeless shelter and was not holding religious services at the time of the incident.

The identity of the deceased victims will be released by the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office after confirming their identity and notifying next of kin.

These are the City's 40th and 41st homicides of 2020.

So three survivors, and the church apparently does have some experience in being a homeless shelter.

[PeteS in CA]

https://www.christianpost.com/news/volunteer-among-5-victims-of-grace-baptist-church-stabbing.html

Volunteer identified among victims of Grace Baptist Church stabbing that left 2 dead

The volunteer, who is among the three survivors of the attack, was identified by Jenny Do as Nguyen Pham, an advocate for the homeless and “community hero” in a Go Fund Me campaign that's seeking to raise $30,000 to help cover his medical bills.

“Nguyen Pham is a community hero to me. He has worked tirelessly to support vulnerable communities in San Jose and beyond! While volunteering at Grace Baptist Church last night, November 22, 2020, Nguyen was stabbed and seriously injured. He is currently hospitalized and is now in stable condition. Hospital bills and other related costs will be a burden for him; therefore, I am reaching out to everyone to pitch in for our young hero!” Do wrote on the campaign Monday.

Grace Baptist Church runs a faith-based winter program in the gymnasium and basement of the church for “the forgotten and vulnerable,” according to its website. Senior Pastor David Robinson told NBC Bay Area that one of the stabbing victims was a shelter worker trying to intervene in a dispute that erupted among four others who were staying there. ...
...
As of Tuesday morning, police had not publicly identified any of the victims or a suspect currently in custody, but SJPD Sgt. Christian Camarillo said the attacker was “a very motivated individual.”

“We had a very motivated individual who was able to stab five people, this isn’t like a shooting, in a stabbing you have to get up close and personal, luckily we got here quickly and were able to take that person into custody,” Camarillo said.

"Motivated"? That's an odd word to use. "Determined" ... "Furious" ... "Obsessed" ... "Berserk" ... "Enraged" ... those would make more sense to me than "Motivated".

That said, I hope the young volunteer recovers well.

[PeteS in CA]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-jose-church-stabbing-immigrant-deported

California church stabbing suspect had been deported three times, officials say

A homeless man accused of fatally stabbing two people inside a California church over the weekend was deported three times and never turned over to federal immigration officials before the attack, despite multiple arrests and convictions for violent crimes, authorities said Wednesday.

On Sunday, Fernando De Jesus Lopez-Garcia, 32, allegedly stabbed five people inside the Grace Baptist Church in San Jose. A man died at the scene and a woman later died at a hospital, San Jose Police Chief Edgardo Garcia said Wednesday during a news conference.

The lack of cooperation between local police and federal immigration agents because of California's sanctuary policies was criticized by a high ranking federal agent who said the attack could have been avoided.

[Political Snark] A sad irony is that Grace Baptist is of the very Lib/Prog American Baptist Church. So Grace probably approves of "Sanctuary Cities". And now one of their ministry volunteers has been killed by a sanctuary city policy. [/Political Snark]

[PeteS in CA]

San Jose, Calif. Mayor, Police Chief Call For Change To Sanctuary Policy

https://www.oann.com/san-jose-calif-mayor-police-chief-call-for-change-to-sanctuary-policy/

City leaders in San Jose, California are urging the Santa Clara County to take action after it was discovered the suspect in a recent church stabbing was an illegal immigrant who had been deported multiple times.

While speaking at press conference last week, Mayor Sam Liccardo and Police Chief Eddie Garcia appealed to officials to reconsider the counties sanctuary city policy while condemning the actions of 32-year-old Fernando Jesus Lopez-Garcia.

On November 22, two people were killed when Lopez-Garcia allegedly walked into Grace Baptist Church and stabbed five innocent people. Luckily, a responding officer was able to arrest the armed and dangerous suspect shortly after the attack.

Chief Garcia said Lopez-Garcia should have been detained by federal authorities given his violent and criminal background.
...
“Currently, Santa Clara County policy prohibits responding to immigration detainors, which allow the suspects to be released,” said Chief Garcia. “Suspect Lopez was also released by a judge following the same domestic violence arrest in Santa Clara despite having a violent history.”

Mayor Liccardo also slammed the county’s sanctuary policies by stating he couldn’t understand how Lopez-Garcia was originally released despite the district attorney’s opposition.

Plus or minus Chief Garcia, I do not think this is pols talking common sense. This is pols whose threshold of pain got crossed because a PC-protected-criminal killed two even-more-PC people, a homeless person and a shelter volunteer. IOW, a Hierarchy of Victimhood thing, not a protect the citizens thing.