This report has been updated to report the arrest of the murder suspect.
San Jose detectives today arrested a 27-year-old man for the triple murder of two women and one man in South San Jose early Tuesday.
After an intensive, around-the clock investigation, police late this afternoon apprehended Joseph Vicencio in San Jose and booked him into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for the fatal shooting of three residents of a house on Chynoweth Avenue near Martial Cottle Park.
Joseph Vicencio was arrested for the Sept. 16 triple homicide in San Jose.
In announcing the arrest, Police Chief Paul Joseph said in a prepared statement: “Our detectives acted swiftly, working around the clock to put this violent suspect behind bars – but that doesn't change the fact that three innocent lives were taken."
“This tragedy has affected the families of the three victims, the suspect's family, and our entire San José community," Joseph said. “I hope that as the case moves through the justice system and this suspect is held accountable for his actions, we can bring some sort of peace and healing after such a tragic loss."
Police reported that when they arrived at the scene of the early morning shooting in the 200 block of Chynoweth Avenue, they found the body of one woman and a seriously wounded man inside of a house, and a seriously injured woman in the front yard.
Multiple calls to 911 reported gunshots at the Chynoweth Avenue house, and said a woman was screaming for help. All three people had been shot, and a lone suspect had fled before police arrived.
The woman and man who had been rushed to the hospital later died of their injuries on Tuesday. The three were the city's 19th, 20th and 21st homicide victims of 2025.
Police have not identified the victims, pending notification of the next of kin. They did not release any information about whether the victims were able to identify their assailant, how they were able to identify and locate Vicencio, or whether a murder weapon had been located. City detectives were assisted by the department's Covert Response and Special Operations MERGE units.
“Our police department has proven once again that if you harm one of our residents, you will be held accountable,” said Mayor Matt Mahan in a statement after the arrest. “I want to thank our detectives for their incredible, thorough and quick work to ensure the safety of the entire community. I’m praying for the families of all three victims and hope that this gives them confidence that justice will be served.”
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Martinez or Detective Jize of the San José Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 408-277-5283.
Two weeks ago, the mayor was touting San Jose as the safest big city in America. I guess he was unavailable for a quote regarding three people murdered in a single location in a single night?
Updated story has a quote from the mayor now that a suspect is in custody, but we don’t learn his criminal history. Should he have been incarcerated already?
He apparently had a history, per this article (https://patch.com/california/cupertino/cupertino-man-arrested-accused-sj-state-shooting-police). Wouldn’t the city be “safer” if people who had previously been arrested on weaponry charges be kept off the streets?
Agreed. There was another SJPD Media announcement earlier this year where a simple google search highlighted a significant past criminal act. I don’t know why either SJPD media relations or a reporter such as the one herein, omits that. Its like a sentence or two to highlight the past and how it resolved in the courts. Its these instances where there is history that needs to be made much more transparent so the public is better positioned to hold the DAs office more accountable.