On November 28, 2025, a San Jose 17-year-old fired a semi-automatic firearm and shot three people at the Westfield Valley Mall in Santa Clara on one the busiest days of the year.
On Black Friday, at 5:35 PM, the suspect was walking with a group on the second floor of Westfield Valley Mall and pulled a semi-automatic handgun out. He fired six shots towards a 28-year-man standing outside a clothing store. The victim, name, was a perceived gang rival. One bullet was fired into the victim’s chest and another two bullets struck two women shopping nearby. After the incident, the suspect and his gang fled the scene.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen has charged the 17-year-old with attempted murder from a criminal street gang and assault with a semi-automatic firearm causing bodily harm to three people. The suspect has been reported to have a criminal history and the seriousness of the assault leads Rosen to the conclusion that the minor should be rehabilitated.
Rosen is seeking to transfer this case to an adult court in hopes to sentence him to 30 to 40 years in prison.
After the incident, an interview with La Voz News, the news outlet for De Anza Community College near Cupertino went viral. The bystander in the interview is named Cristian Rodriguez – describing himself as “Mexican Spiderman.” He recalls the incident in a wild and detail-filled story.
He starts with telling how his “natural human reaction” kicked in when he saw a “white boy,” who looked like a shooter walk in. Rodriguez was at Bowlero, a bowling alley next to Westfield Valley Fair’s Macy’s during the time of the incident.
He said people believed it was a prank at first until they heard shooting, “pop, pop, pop!” from the sounds of the gun. Chaos erupted and people were hysterical, everyone was scrambling to escape the bowling alley.” He recalls, “I remember, there was like, a lady, Asian lady, trying to hand me her kid. So I was like, not get shot and not die.”
He continues “I’m like, kicking the the window. I kicked it at least three times, like crazy kicks. I used to play soccer, so I could kick pretty hard. Nothing was working. I look around, I pick up the bowling ball, I like yank it and the window finally breaks. I tackle it on some football, you know, S-H-I-T. I don’t really like football, but then, as soon as it happened, everyone starts getting out of that window.”
The reporter then asks him about the broken window. He says, “I hope I don’t get charged for it. I’m just a Mexican Spiderman at this point, right?”
