A 21-year-old San Jose man was shot and killed just before 1 AM on May 2 outside an apartment complex on Summerside Drive, and the man accused of pulling the trigger was, at that very moment, walking free while awaiting trial on an entirely separate murder charge out of Oakland. San Jose police say Micheal Teghen Amuche was found unconscious in the complex's driveway around 12:54 AM after patrol officers responded to reports of a shooting; he later died from his injuries.
The San José Police Department has designated the killing the city's ninth homicide of 2026, according to the San José Police Department. Investigators allege James Goodman, 39, who also goes by the alias Jamal Wood and has lived in both Hercules and Antioch, shot Amuche, and he now faces first-degree murder charges in Santa Clara County. As reported by The Mercury News, Goodman was on pretrial release in an unrelated Oakland murder case at the time of the San Jose shooting.
Court documents allege a disturbing motive: prosecutors say Amuche had brought 26-year-old co-defendant Devinae Mitchell to his apartment complex for sex work before Goodman shot him, per court records and reporting cited by Sing Tao Daily. Mitchell, of Hercules, has been charged with felony accessory after the fact for allegedly helping Goodman evade arrest. She was released from custody, while Goodman has been ordered held without bail ahead of an August 5 plea hearing, the outlet reports.
A Six-Week Manhunt Ends in Hercules
San Jose police announced Goodman's arrest on June 23, though records show he and Mitchell were actually taken into custody together in Hercules on June 18. The arrest was carried out by San Jose Police Department Homicide Unit detectives, supported by the department's Covert Response Unit and the Hercules Police Department, according to the same SJPD announcement. Police have said the motive and full circumstances surrounding Amuche's death remain under investigation.
The Oakland Case That Fell Apart
Eleven days after Amuche was killed, Alameda County prosecutors formally dismissed the murder charge against Goodman in a separate 2022 Oakland case — the very case that had put him on pretrial release when police say he killed again. That October 2022 shooting, on the 1600 block of 45th Avenue, wounded two men and fatally struck 39-year-old William Graham, who, according to court records, was killed during a confrontation over a traffic collision. The Oakland Police Department arrested Goodman for that killing in May 2023 following a multi-agency investigation involving its Violent Crime Operations Center, homicide unit, patrol officers, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Oakland case unraveled on the evidence. DNA recovered from a shell casing did not match Goodman, and witness statements were deemed shaky by authorities, according to the report. A judge had granted Goodman's release from jail on pretrial bail back in August 2024, meaning he had already spent roughly two years out of custody by the time the San Jose shooting occurred.
A Pattern of Prior Violence
Court records reviewed for the case describe a history of prior violence and eluding law enforcement. Goodman had a prior burglary conviction, and in July 2022, while on parole, he allegedly used his car to ram a vehicle containing his girlfriend and her 5-year-old child during a domestic dispute — with the child reportedly still inside the car at the time of the crash. Police also attempted to arrest Goodman in 2023, when he allegedly crashed his car while trying to flee officers, according to court records. During one of those incidents, Goodman allegedly told a woman he would have a shoot-out with police.
Remembering Micheal Teghen Amuche
Amuche was born in Mbengwi, Cameroon, in January 2004 and had only been in the United States a short time before his death. According to his obituary from Habing Family Funeral Home, he immigrated to California in July 2024 to join family, relocating from Yaoundé alongside his siblings less than two years before he was killed. He worked as a self-taught auto mechanic, building a trade and a new life in San Jose in the brief time he had in the country.
San Jose police continue to investigate the full circumstances of Amuche's death as the case moves through Santa Clara County court, with Goodman's plea hearing having been set for August 5. The dismissal of the Oakland murder charge means Goodman is not currently facing prosecution in Graham's 2022 killing, even as he stands accused of taking another life while free on bail in that case.
