Police said the shooting near San Pedro Square was isolated and not tied to World Cup watch parties.
SAN JOSE, CA — Police investigated a deadly double shooting in downtown San Jose after two men were shot Sunday night near North Market Street and West Santa Clara Street, leaving one dead and another critically injured.
The shooting drew a large police response to the edge of San Pedro Square, one of the city’s busiest downtown entertainment areas and a gathering place for World Cup watch parties. San Jose police said Monday that investigators were treating the case as a homicide, the city’s 13th of the year. Officials said the attack appeared to be isolated, but no arrest had been announced and the motive remained under investigation.
Officers were called to the area around 9:12 p.m. Sunday after reports of gunfire. Police found an adult man unconscious on a sidewalk with at least one gunshot wound. He died at the scene. A second adult man was found nearby with life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital. Police said Monday that he remained in critical condition but was expected to survive. San Jose Police Department spokesperson Stacie Shih said the department understood the concern caused by violence near a place where many residents and visitors had gathered in recent days. She said officers would keep a visible presence downtown as the investigation continued.
Police said the two victims were San Jose residents and had been traveling together on foot when a suspect approached them in a vehicle and opened fire. The person in the vehicle fled after the shooting. Authorities had not released a suspect description by Monday evening, and police had not said whether investigators recovered a weapon or surveillance video. The name of the man who died was being withheld pending notification of relatives by the Santa Clara County Office of the Medical Examiner. Streets near the shooting scene were closed while homicide detectives and crime scene technicians processed the area.
The shooting happened about a block from San Pedro Square, where restaurants, bars and public viewing areas have drawn crowds during the World Cup. Police said no World Cup match was being shown at the fan zone when the gunfire broke out, and officials said they had found no link between the shooting and the watch parties. Mayor Matt Mahan said the violence was unacceptable because it happened near a place where families and fans had been gathering. He said Sunday’s programming had ended hours earlier and that there was no sign the shooting was connected to the event.
Witness accounts placed part of the violence near a ramen restaurant and another part near the fan-zone area. One victim died near the restaurant, while the injured man made it into or near San Pedro Square before medics treated him. Security staff and police cleared parts of the square after the shooting. Bars and restaurants in the area closed or were disrupted as officers blocked off streets. By Monday, the fan zone had reopened with more police and security visible in the area, and fans again gathered to watch tournament matches on a large screen.
The case now rests with the San Jose Police Department’s homicide unit. Detectives were working to identify the suspect, determine the path of the vehicle and confirm what led up to the shooting. Police had not announced charges or a court date because no arrest had been reported. Officials said the investigation remained active, and the department was expected to release more information if detectives identified a suspect, confirmed a motive or received an update on the surviving victim’s condition.
The shooting added another homicide investigation to a year in which downtown San Jose has seen several high-profile violent incidents. Police said the Sunday night case was separate from earlier shootings and separate from the World Cup events nearby. City officials said San Jose had hosted large downtown crowds safely before the shooting, and police said the area would see increased patrols while public events continued. The immediate focus remained on the victims, the suspect vehicle and evidence collected from the downtown scene.
As of Monday, one man was dead, another was hospitalized and no arrest had been announced. Police said the next public milestone would come when investigators release the victim’s name, identify a suspect or provide a new update in the homicide case.
Author note: Last updated June 29, 2026.