SAN JOSE — A young San Jose couple, whose chance encounter with a family in East San Jose last month led to a fight and the fatal stabbing of a Gilroy man, will not face charges in the killing due to a credible self-defense claim, authorities said Tuesday.
Miguel Angel Gomez-Vazquez and Liliana Frausto, both 23, have been released from Santa Clara County jail, where they were booked following their arrests Thursday in connection with the May 17 death of 51-year-old Francisco Ibarra.
“This was a terrible tragedy,” reads a statement from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. “However, we could not file criminal charges because the evidence shows that the suspect acted with reasonable self-defense.”
San Jose police were called about 8 p.m. on May 17 for reports of a double stabbing. An investigation determined that Gomez-Vazquez and Frausto were driving past the Wienerschnitzel on North Capitol Avenue north of McKee Road when there was a verbal exchange between them and Ibarra’s family, who were parked on the street.
Gomez-Vazquez, who was driving, pulled over, and soon after, a fight ensued between him, Ibarra, and an adult male relative of Ibarra, according to law-enforcement sources. During the fight, Gomez-Vazquez pulled out a knife and stabbed both of the men, got free, then drove away with Frausto, who tried to intervene in the brawl.
Ibarra died at a local hospital. The other man who was stabbed was treated and released.
It would be nearly two weeks before witness accounts and other evidence helped San Jose detectives identify and locate Gomez-Vazquez and Frausto as being involved in the deadly altercation.
The stabbing death marked the city’s 12th homicide of the year, a total that had risen to 13 as of Tuesday.
