SAN JOSE — A cold-case investigation has led to an arrest in the 2017 death of a man who was fatally shot from close range while standing in front of a Wienerschnitzel south of downtown, authorities said.
San Jose police said they had arrested William Vellmure Jr. as the suspect in a May 18, 2017 shooting death. George Garza, 38, was fatally wounded in a shooting near South 1st Street and Edwards Avenue and died later at a hospital. Detectives developed new information over the last two years, leading to the June 5 arrest of Vellmure Jr. (San Jose Police Department photo)
William Jacob Vellmure Jr., 33, of San Jose, was arrested June 5 following an investigation revived two years ago by the San Jose Police Department and Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit, according to a police news release issued Tuesday.
Vellmure is being held without bail in the Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of murder. He was charged and arraigned June 7, court records show.
The May 18, 2017 shooting ended in the death of 38-year-old San Jose resident George Garza. It was reported just after 10 p.m. when Garza was standing front of the eatery’s ordering window on South First Street near Edwards Avenue, witnesses told this news organization at the time.
Garza was taken to a hospital and died from his injuries. Witnesses said the shooting unfolded quickly and was followed by the sights of a staggering Garza and a shooter who ran into a car that then fled the area.
In statement, Acting Police Chief Paul Joseph lauded homicide detectives and cold-case investigators from the district attorney’s office for making an arrest in the case.
“The closure of this seven-year-old murder was a direct result of the persistence and determination of our homicide detectives, as well as the assistance from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit,” Joseph said.
A probable cause affidavit and police report accompanying the criminal complaint against Vellmure describe the renewed investigation as initially focusing on a man believed to be with Vellmure and two other men at the Wienerschnitzel. They placed the man at the scene through DNA gathered from a corndog stick left at the shooting site, and through an examination of his cell phone location signals from that night.
That man, who was not charged, eventually identified Vellmure as the shooter. Witnesses including Garza’s girlfriend recalled Garza walking up to the group of four men that included Vellmure and that after heated words, a fist fight broke out between Garza and Vellmure. The girlfriend told investigators that when she tried to intervene, she was hit by one of Vellmure’s punches.
Moments later, Vellmure pulled out a gun and fired several shots at Garza, mortally wounded him, according to the man in Vellmure’s group, who added that the foursome then fled in a white car that other witnesses saw leaving the scene, according to the police report.
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The affidavit stated that no witness picked Vellmure as the shooter from photo lineups presented by police. But investigators placed Vellmure at the scene by matching his DNA to a pair of sunglasses dropped at the crime scene, and a witness account that Vellmure was known to wear those sunglasses on the back of his head.
Police also suggested that gang-related tensions might have fueled the the initial conflict that led to the fight and shooting, but no gang charges were filed against Vellmure.
A police report included a recent interrogation of Vellmure after he was linked to Garza’s shooting, in which he denied being at the crime scene even after being presented with the DNA evidence match from the sunglasses, telling investigators “that is between him and God.” He also told them how he had reformed himself after dropping out of gang life, and that “I just don’t recall” when asked about being involved in the shooting.
Anyone with information for the homicide investigation can contact the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. Joel Martinez at [email protected] or Detective Hans Jorgensen at [email protected]. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.
