By Sean Webby
San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Hoping for public help to bring to justice fugitives behind one of San Jose’s bloodiest crimes, police Tuesday released a graphic video captured by security cameras at the Mexicali Club earlier this year during a deadly kidnap attempt.
The bar invasion left three dead, one badly wounded and the getaway driver and a mystery man in a bulletproof vest on the run.
The video shows an unidentified suspect grappling with the owner of the bar as he attempts to yank him at gunpoint from the club into a waiting SUV. Toward the end of the video, the club owner — who police say was targeted over a drug debt — wrestles himself free, but is gunned down by the mystery suspect in the parking lot. The owner survived.
The mystery man escaped and has so far has also eluded police identification.
“We are hoping that someone out there may recognize the man in the bulletproof vest and let us know who he is,” said police Sgt. Jason Dwyer, a department spokesman. “Obviously he is extremely dangerous and needs to be taken off the street.”
The bar security videos show the interior of the Mexicali Club on Oakland Road the night of Jan. 8 when three men burst in and tried to snatch the owner.
The attempt went awry when another man inside the bar began shooting. The owner was hospitalized with gunshot wounds, but has since left the hospital, police said. They did not release any further information about him or elaborate further on the crime.
The video released by police is divided into three parts, all showing the stages of the kidnapping attempt inside the club, where tables were made up nicely for customers and a music stand stood ready for entertainment.
The first section shows the unidentified man, wearing a green bulletproof vest, chasing the owner of the bar, Humberto Velasquez Sanchez, 28, of San Lorenzo, with a gun. He grabs his struggling victim and begins to pull him from the club. At this point the kidnappers most likely have already been confronted by a gun-wielding Manuel Morales Mendosa. Mendosa fired on the invaders, killing Antonio Barraza Allon, 31, of Salinas, before Mendosa himself was shot dead.
From a different camera, the owner is pushed past the restrooms toward the exit by the kidnapper.
The third video section, taken just outside the club, shows the getaway SUV pull up and the victim struggling free before his kidnapper can get him into the vehicle. His assailant chases him, firing his gun. The victim stumbles, apparently shot. Later, the kidnapper comes back to the car.
At one point in last section of the video another man wearing a cowboy hat, identified by police as Manuel Rodriguez Barraza, 29, also of Salinas, gets out of the SUV as the shooting takes place. Police say at this point Barraza may have already been shot. At the very end of the video, police believe that he is seen slumping against a window. The next morning, police found him dead in the black 1997 Ford Explorer.
Police are also searching for the getaway driver, identified as Hector “Mono” Milla, 32, of Salinas, also known as Arnaldo Perez Santa.
Copyright 2011 San Jose Mercury News