SAN JOSE, CA - FEBRUARY 20: Police tape blocks off the scene of a shooting along Jackson Street in Japantown, in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021. One person later died from their injuries and the incident was being investigated as a homicide, the fifth so far in 2021. Police also responded to two other unrelated shootings early Saturday morning one at 1900 block of Poco Way and another on the 500 block of West Alma Avenue. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE — The death of a man who was allegedly assaulted by his roommate nine months ago has been officially declared a homicide following the completion of a coroner’s investigation, authorities announced Thursday.
Gabriel Jerome Palma, 59, was living in an East San Jose home on Florence Avenue with 29-year-old David Gregg on Oct. 22 when Gregg punched Palma “several times in the face” and then ran off, according to San Jose police.
Palma refused medical attention when contacted by responding police officers, who searched the area but did not find Gregg. But that evening, police said, another person who lived at the home found Palma lying on the floor of his bedroom “after apparently collapsing and hitting his head on the edge of his bed frame,” and Palma was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries.
On Oct. 28, Palma died, according to police and records from the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office. San Jose police detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Gregg, and on Nov. 11, county sheriff’s deputies took him into custody, and he was charged with felony assault.
San Jose police said on July 27, they received an investigative report from the coroner’s office ruling that Palma’s death was a homicide. The coroner also reported that he died from complications from a blunt-force injury to his head and a subdural hemorrhage.
In light of the homicide declaration, the district attorney’s office is reviewing the case for additional charges, police said. This also marks the 22nd homicide of the year investigated by San Jose police.
Meanwhile, the assault prosecution for Gregg has been suspended since April after a court ordered an evaluation of his mental competence and fitness to stand trial, court records show. He has a Sept. 1 court hearing scheduled where his competence could be ruled on by a judge.
Anyone with information for the homicide investigation can contact the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or email Lt. Mike White at 4104@sanjoseca.gov or Detective Sgt. Ted Reckas at 3440@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.
Originally published at Robert Salonga