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SJ officials mourn loss of colleague killed in triple homicide
Officials with the San Jose Dept. of Housing on Thursday mourned the death of a beloved colleague killed during a triple homicide earlier in the week.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Employees of the San Jose Dept. of Housing continued mourning on Thursday, the loss of one of their own. Max Ryan, a 26-year-old who was part of the outreach team, was one of three people murdered earlier in the week. His boss says Ryan was passionate about helping the unhoused find shelter.
Passionate about helping the unhoused
"Max touched a lot of those families. And that work of engaging individuals at the highest point of need in their lives, brings a team quickly together emotionally," said Eric Solivan, director of the San Jose Dept. of Housing.
He said his team on the 12th floor of City Hall is shattered by the loss of a colleague who'd been doing outreach for the city since February. Over the course of six months, he had helped hundreds of people move from the Columbus Park encampment into supportive, city-sponsored housing.
"He would go above and beyond for the clients that he had worked with," said Solivan. "The department is grieving at this time...and we're hoping to express that grief and move forward..."
Suspect's prior violent history
The backstory:
Twenty-six-year-old San Jose resident Joseph Vicencio is charged with killing Ryan, 26-year-old Tarrah Taylor, and another woman Tuesday. Neighbors said they heard gunshots and screams around 12:30 a.m., in the 200 block of Chynoweth Ave.
"You hear (rapid gunfire), screaming, and so obviously that's a crime scene, right?," neighbor Khadija Matthews said Tuesday.
Vicencio has a 2019 conviction for shooting at and hitting the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, and a parking garage. There were no reported injuries in the incident. As a result, court documents obtained by KTVU showed he was barred from owning or possessing a firearm.
"He's had a prior gun restraining order, he's a prior felon, he shouldn't have been anywhere near a gun," said Steven Clark, a South Bay legal analyst.
He said prosecutors will need to look at Vicencio's past interactions to determine why he targeted the three victims.
"Were there any red flags that were not addressed?," asked Clark. "Should he have been supervised more closely? Were there services he needed that he didn't get? All of that will go into the calculus of exactly how this case happened."
For the family, friends and coworkers of the victims, a slow push forward for answers and justice as they grapple with unimaginable loss.
"He just embodied that above and beyond spirit," said Solivan.
What's next:
Vicencio could be arraigned for three counts of homicide as early as Friday afternoon at the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office has not released the identity of the third victim in the attack.
Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay Bureau. Follow him on the Instagram platform, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU.
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