A San José teenager is facing multiple firearm-related charges after detectives say they found a loaded, privately made short-barreled rifle and a semi-automatic pistol inside his home while investigating a gang-motivated shooting that left an unoccupied vehicle riddled with bullets near Lavander Avenue and Palmia Drive.
According to the San José Police Department, patrol officers responded to the neighborhood on June 1 and found multiple shell casings scattered near a vehicle that had been struck several times by gunfire. Investigators with the department's Gang Investigations Unit determined the shooting was gang-motivated, according to the department's preliminary investigation, and later identified 18-year-old San José resident Tye Mendoza as the primary suspect.
SJPD Arrests Suspect for Neighborhood Shootinghttps://t.co/O9Fi6u3WLr pic.twitter.com/VqITxArqJJ
— San José Police Media Relations (@SJPD_PIO) August 17, 2026
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant along with a search warrant for a residence associated with Mendoza. Last Tuesday, members of SJPD's Covert Response Unit — described by the department as a specialized surveillance and tactical team that partners with investigative units to execute high-risk arrest warrants and apprehend violent fugitives, per the San Jose Police Department — joined Gang Investigations Unit detectives to take Mendoza into custody.
What Detectives Say They Found Inside the Home
During the search, Gang Investigations Unit detectives reported finding a loaded, privately made short-barreled rifle along with a loaded semi-automatic pistol at the residence tied to Mendoza. Mendoza was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on charges including assault with a deadly weapon and shooting into a vehicle, alongside additional firearm-related counts, the department said.
Santa Clara County arrest records published by Local Crime News add that Mendoza was also arrested on a charge of possession or control of a firearm before age 30 after having been a ward of the juvenile court, a detail that points to a prior history in the juvenile justice system beyond what SJPD's initial statement described.
California law treats the alleged offenses with a range of statutory exposure. Under Penal Code Section 245(a)(2), assault with a firearm is a wobbler that can carry up to four years in state prison, with felony filing mandatory in certain circumstances involving semiautomatic or specialized firearms, according to the Shouse Law Group. Because the vehicle struck by gunfire was unoccupied, the shooting charge falls under Penal Code Section 247(b) rather than the harsher drive-by statute covering occupied vehicles — a wobbler punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony carrying up to three years in prison, per Power Trial Lawyers.
Ghost Guns and Short-Barreled Rifles Under State Law
The short-barreled rifle recovered at Mendoza's residence carries its own separate legal weight. Penal Code Section 33215 prohibits possessing, manufacturing, or assembling short-barreled rifles — defined under a related statute as rifles with barrels under 16 inches or an overall length under 26 inches — and classifies the offense as a wobbler punishable by up to three years in custody, according to the Hedding Law Firm.
Since the rifle was also privately made, it likely lacked a valid serial number. Under California Assembly Bill 1621, which amended Penal Code Section 23920 effective January 1, 2024, possessing any firearm or firearm precursor part without a valid serial number is a misdemeanor offense aimed at curbing untraceable ghost guns, as Hoodline has reported. That concern isn't isolated to this case: a California Department of Justice annual report released in July 2025 found that law enforcement agencies statewide recovered 46,288 unique crime guns that year, including 8,877 unserialized firearms and 6,940 specifically identified as ghost guns.
The arrest is the latest in a string of gang and illegal-firearm enforcement actions by SJPD's Gang Investigations Unit this year. Hoodline previously reported on a San José home beatdown arrest in July involving the same unit serving search and arrest warrants tied to gang violence and illegal firearms, as well as a case earlier that month in which detectives arrested eight people in a gang beatdown investigation. In March, the unit also arrested a man in connection with an East Side drive-by shooting that wounded a teenager, using license plate reader technology to help identify a suspect.
Citywide Violence Trends and Case Contacts
The Lavander Avenue shooting comes as San José has seen an overall multi-year decline in homicides. The department recorded 26 homicides in 2024, down from 36 in 2023, 35 in 2022, and 31 in 2021, according to data compiled by Omnilert. Even so, the recovery of untraceable, illegally modified firearms in neighborhood shootings like this one remains a persistent concern for investigators.
Mendoza was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail Complex at 150 West Hedding Street, a downtown San José facility that operates under a direct-supervision model and processes roughly 30,000 bookings a year, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. The press release announcing the arrest was authored by Stacie Shih and authorized by Lieutenant Kilmer.
SJPD is asking anyone with information about this case or similar incidents to contact Detective Moreno of the Gang Investigations Unit at [email protected] or 408-277-3835. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous can go through Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers, which was founded in San José in 1982 and expanded countywide in 2000, offering rewards of up to $1,000 for information submitted through the P3TIPS app or its tip line that leads to a felony arrest. It remains unresolved whether the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office will pursue gang enhancement allegations, whether federal charges could follow given the short-barreled rifle's configuration, or how Mendoza's prior juvenile court history might factor into bail or venue decisions.
