A person was left in critical condition after being stabbed near the corner of Auzerais Avenue and Race Street in San Jose, and police have already booked another individual into the county jail in connection with the attack. Officers were called to the intersection yesterday after a caller reported that two people were involved in a physical altercation, according to the San Jose Police Department.
Responding officers found a person suffering from at least one stab wound at the scene, per the department, as reported by The Mercury News. That victim was taken to an area hospital and remained in critical condition, police said. Officers arrested the other person involved, who was suspected of crimes including assault with a deadly weapon, and that individual was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail.
Police released no other details on Wednesday, and the department described the investigation as active and ongoing. A second person connected to the incident remained in police custody as detectives continued their work.
Booking and What Comes Next
The Santa Clara County Main Jail Complex, where the arrested person was taken, sits at 150 West Hedding Street in downtown San Jose and has a maximum housing capacity of 919 male inmates, according to the Office of the Sheriff, County of Santa Clara. Non-fatal stabbing cases like this one are typically assigned to the San Jose Police Department's specialized Assaults Unit, which gathers physical evidence and witness interviews before presenting a case to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office for potential charges.
Under California Penal Code Section 245(a)(1), assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm is what's known as a wobbler offense, meaning prosecutors can pursue it as either a felony or a misdemeanor. Per the LA Criminal Defenders, a felony conviction can carry two, three, or four years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000, while a misdemeanor charge tops out at a year in county jail. Whether prosecutors file felony or misdemeanor charges typically hinges on the severity of the victim's injuries and the weapon involved.
A Corner With a Violent History
The intersection of Auzerais Avenue and Race Street has seen serious violence before. In August 2023, a San Jose police officer was shot and injured there while responding to a domestic disturbance call, an ambush that later prompted Santa Clara County prosecutors to pursue a life-sentence prosecution against the shooter.
The surrounding Sunol-Midtown neighborhood has been in flux, shifting from light industrial and commercial land toward new housing and school developments. Hoodline previously reported on a high school planned for a vacant office building nearby on Race Street, and on the opening of the 130-unit Solaire Apartments a few blocks away on Auzerais Avenue.
A City Still Grappling With Violent Crime
Wednesday's stabbing comes as San Jose's violent crime picture sends mixed signals. Reported violent crime citywide fell 15% in 2025 to 4,963 incidents, the second consecutive annual decline after peaking at 6,046 in 2023, according to FBI Uniform Crime Report data cited by San José Spotlight. But that broader decline masks a more recent uptick in one specific category: data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association shows San Jose logged 1,745 aggravated assaults through the middle of 2026, up from 1,541 during the same period the year before.
Those numbers land against a backdrop of thin police staffing. As of May, the department had roughly 939 sworn officers for a city of nearly one million people, or about 1.0 officer per 1,000 residents, well below the national average of 2.4, San José Spotlight's reporting shows. That shortage has pushed overtime spending as high as $71.5 million in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, prompting the city to enact stricter overtime controls this year, according to Police1's earlier coverage. Statewide, the Public Policy Institute of California has found that aggravated assault rates remain 22% higher than pre-pandemic 2019 levels even as overall violent crime eased in 2024.
Wednesday's incident marks the second time this summer that Hoodline has reported on a serious stabbing in San Jose; in June, a separate multi-victim attack left two adults hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. As of Wednesday, police had not released the identities of either person involved in the Auzerais Avenue stabbing, the nature of the dispute that led to the attack, the exact weapon used, or an updated condition for the victim.
