SAN JOSE — Even as they mourned their dead and prayed for those traumatized by the recent attack at Grace Baptist Church, the church’s leaders promised to double down — not back away from — their commitment to sheltering the unhoused.
“My greatest hope out of all of this is that we all will unify around a commitment to creating ways to make changes, to make things better,” said Phil Mastrocola, director of the homeless shelter program at Grace Baptist where five people were stabbed Nov. 22. “And curing the condition of houselessness.”
He spoke during a vigil Tuesday night to honor the two people killed and three injured in the attack. About 100 people gathered on the street and sidewalk in front of the church, holding flowers and candles. They cried and hugged as Mastrocola and others spoke.
Police have arrested 32-year-old Fernando Lopez, a man who stayed at the shelter and is accused of stabbing fellow shelter guests, as well as a volunteer and a church employee.
But despite the tragedy, the Grace Baptist shelter, which provides showers, food and a place to sleep to dozens of people a night, should reopen within the next few days, Mastrocola said. The program has been closed since the attack, but displaced shelter guests have been put up in a San Jose hotel — in rooms first funded by volunteers, and then paid for by Grace Solutions, the nonprofit that backs the shelter.
Grace Solutions is accepting donations through PayPal to help repair and clean the facility, and hire additional staff, so the shelter can reopen.
John Paulson, 45, was staying at the shelter when he was killed in the attack. He was a “humorous and down-to-earth man” who had been a regular guest for years, said Mastrocola’s son, Anthony Mastrocola, who manages the shelter.
The second victim was a woman who started out as a guest, but quickly was promoted to an honorary staff member. She worked tirelessly to help others in the shelter, Mastrocola said.
She “found her life here as a volunteer, but also lost it,” added Karen Kieffer Gillette, a member of the Grace Solutions board, and a shelter volunteer.
The female victim’s name has not yet been released by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office, pending notification of her next of kin.
“Both will be sorely missed by us and the many others whose lives they’ve touched throughout San Jose,” Mastrocola said.
Mastrocola also had good news to share Tuesday night: All three of the victims injured in the attack are out of the hospital — including one shelter staff member who attended the vigil.
The surviving victims include Nguyen Pham, a city employee who recently started volunteering at Grace Baptist and was known for his dedication to helping those without a home. His friends and family, and Mayor Sam Liccardo, have publicized a GoFundMe page to support Pham through his recovery.
At a news conference last week, Liccardo said Pham works in the city’s Office of Economic Development and was heavily involved in the city’s census-taking effort, which was recognized for achieving the highest response rate in the country.
“He was able to work with community groups and the community to be able to encourage folks to come out … that’s consistent with what I’ve heard from so many who have worked with him,” Liccardo said. “He has an incredibly generous spirit and was passionate about serving and volunteered for the unhoused community at Grace, and is a model person in every way.”
The stabbings were reported at 7:54 p.m. Nov. 22 at the church grounds at 10th and San Fernando streets across from San Jose State University.
A blood-covered Lopez was arrested within 15 minutes by an officer who spotted him in the area, according to the newly released police summary that accompanied two murder charges and three attempted murder charges filed against him. The officer reported that Lopez discarded a large chef’s knife that was later recovered and is believed to have been used in the attack.
Police say the unprovoked stabbings occurred in different areas of the shelter, and all three surviving victims, as well as multiple witnesses, identified Lopez by his first name in describing the suspect. Some who know him fear he might have returned to using meth.
His arrest and criminal history have re-opened a political schism over Santa Clara County’s sanctuary policy — a framework that prohibits county jails from notifying immigration agents when an undocumented person is released. Lopez had been deported three times before the attacks, according to authorities. When Lopez, who had been in jail in Santa Clara County following a domestic violence arrest, was released in June, he might have gone into the custody of federal immigration authorities, not back to the streets, if not for the county’s sanctuary policy. San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia, Liccardo, and the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office say that could have prevented the Grace Baptist attack.
Immigration-rights advocates, civil-rights groups and Grace Baptist’s senior pastor have excoriated that claim, saying Lopez is being used as a scapegoat against sanctuary policies that are vital to instilling community trust in law enforcement.
But politics were pushed aside Tuesday night to focus on the grieving community.
“People needed this,” said Scott Largent, who slept at Grace Baptist off and on in February and March, and now volunteers there. The attack has rattled the community and shaken an institution scores of people rely on for food, shelter and safety.
“There were times when I came to that door there,” Largent said, gesturing to the church’s door, “and I was damn near freezing to death. And they let me in.”
Despite the tragedy, Anthony Mastrocola vowed the shelter staff will get right back to work helping those in the community who are overlooked and underserved.
“That’s what we do,” he said. “Someone needs to do it, and that’s just what we do.”