SANTA CLARA COUNTY – A Hayward man was convicted on May 6, 2015 for shooting a man to death in 2013 after two rival gangs ran into each other in a busy San Jose strip mall.
22-year-old Andrew Daniel Rodriguez, who was a known associate of a Norteno criminal street gang was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Pedro Meza Hernandez, a 20-year-old San Jose Sureno gang member. Rodriguez is scheduled to be sentenced by the Honorable JoAnne McCracken on June 26. He faces life in prison.
According to the San Jose Police Department, “On Friday, November 15, 2013 at approximately 7:32 P.M., the San Jose Police Department’s 9-1-1 Communications Center received a report of a person shot in the 1600 block of West San Carlos Street in San Jose.” SJPD Patrol officers located Pedro Meza Hernandez suffering from at least one gunshot wound. Hernandez was pronounced deceased at approximately 8:55 P.M at a local hospital.
On that Friday evening around 7:30 p.m., two rival groups first ran into each other at a clothing store in the West San Carlos Center, at the 1600 block of San Carlos Avenue. The gang members exchanged menacing looks, according to witnesses. Then they exited the store to realize they were parked next to each other. The victim pulled out in his GMC Silverado truck, and using his front fender, pushed the suspect’s Toyota Camry from behind.
According to Stephen Poolos, Deputy District Attorney with Santa Clara County’s Gang Unit, “After the collision, the suspect got out the car, pulling a .44 Magnum from a hidden compartment in the vehicle.” It was then he aimed and shot Hernandez in the head and chest. “Police found the weapon abandoned behind the parking lot. It had been reported stolen to the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department 30 years ago,” Poolos said.
After San Jose Police filed an arrest warrant for murder on Rodriguez, Fortuna police, in northern California near Eureka, located and arrested Rodriguez for the murder, booking him into the Humboldt County Jail, where he was held before his extradition to Santa Clara County.
“We are pleased that a hard-working and thoughtful jury held this dangerous defendant accountable for his brash and inexcusable violence upon another human being,” Poolos said. “The District Attorney’s Office would like to thank the San Jose Police Department for its thorough and professional investigation.”
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