The mother of a 15-year-old boy beaten and fatally stabbed by alleged gang members during a Valentine’s Day date at Santana Row is suing the upscale shopping center and its security company, claiming they should have done more to protect him.
The lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court this week alleges that the security guard who initially intervened to break up an assault on David Gutierrez by four suspected gang members “did nothing to look after” him after the initial assault, leaving him vulnerable to the second attack moments later that led to his death. Police and the family say David had no gang ties and was targeted because he was wearing a red jacket to celebrate the holiday, not as a gang color.
“This should never have happened to David,” said his mother, Veronica Gutierrez. “It’s just something that I can’t let go. Everything that is possibly in my hands, to hold every single person that was responsible for David’s death, is going to hear from me.”…