The parents of a 22-year-old Northern California man who was stabbed to death while trying to stop an attack on his friend are asking the public to help police identify the suspect, as investigators say the killing may have been recorded on cellphone video by bystanders.
The victim, identified by his family as Raymond Orozco, was killed early Sunday in downtown San Jose, California, where he and a group had gone out for a night on the town, the victim’s parents said.
“We would like to get justice for him. We’d like the police to get the person who did this and get them what they deserve,” Orozco’s father, Roy Orozco, told ABC San Francisco station KGO-TV.
San Jose police officers responded to calls of a stabbing around 12:51 a.m. on Sunday in a downtown entertainment district, according to the San Jose Police Department.
“Upon arrival, they located an adult male victim suffering from at least one stab wound,” police said in a statement. “Officers immediately began life saving measures and summoned paramedics to the scene. The victim was transported to a local hospital where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased.”
The unidentified culprit in the homicide ran from the scene before police arrived and remains at large, authorities said.
“During the course of the investigation, Detectives learned the victim was involved in a physical confrontation prior to the stabbing and believe the incident may have been recorded on cellphone video by several uninvolved bystanders,” police said in a statement, asking anyone with video or information about the attack to contact detectives immediately.
In the interview with KGO-TV, Orozco’s mother, Daniela Ruiz said the killer “took my heart.”
Ruiz and Roy Orozco said their son son was out with a cousin and two female friends when one of the women in their group was allegedly attacked on South 2nd Street in San Jose.
Roy Orozco said he has learned that his son had stepped in to break up the attack when he was stabbed.
“It’s not like he was hurting somebody. He was just trying to pull people off of somebody else,” Roy Orozco said. “For somebody to pull a weapon on somebody unarmed like that is beyond ridiculous.”
The parents said their son worked at a group home for seniors with physical and developmental disabilities. Raymond Orozco had hoped to become a first responder, his parents said, and had recently been accepted to attend a fire academy at Chabot College in Hayward, California, in the fall.
“They took one of the brightest lights out of the world,” Roy Orozco said. “It’s affecting more than just us. It affects so many other people, and the potential had to help even more people has just been taken away from the world.”
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