Family ID’s son who died at Bay Area party for Twitch streamer

A young man who died at a Bay Area-based Twitch streamer’s birthday party on Saturday night has been identified by family as Desiderio Romero V on GoFundMe. 

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At a party hosted by a Twitch streamer who goes by NateDeBaiits in a Morgan Hill field off Hale Avenue and Live Oak Avenue, seven people were shot by a yet-to-be-identified shooter, according to a news release from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. Desiderio, known by friends and family as “Pepper,” was pronounced dead at the scene. The six other people who were shot had been released from local hospitals as of Tuesday.

Around 10:16 p.m., police received calls of “intoxicated people in the street” and “a person throwing bottles at cars,” the sheriff’s office said. When officers arrived, about 300 people hurried to flee the field. In a clip of a Twitch livestream from streamer jcseay, about eight rounds can be heard fired off in succession before the video cuts off.

No arrests have been made in the case. Detectives believe the shooting was isolated and that the weapon used was a handgun. 

A GoFundMe created on Monday by Romero’s family said he is survived by his parents and three sisters. Romero grew up playing baseball and football, and was considering a career in carpentry after graduating high school, according to an interview with his great-grandfather Desiderio Romero II by KGO-TV. The 18-year-old was about to start his senior year, his grandfather told the Mercury News. 

“Pepper was taken from us far too soon, and our hearts are shattered,” the GoFundMe page read. “He will forever be remembered for the love he brought to everyone around him. He was a cherished son, brother, grandson, cousin, and friend whose memory will live on in all who knew and loved him.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the GoFundMe page has garnered nearly $30,000 donations of a $40,000 goal.

The streamer known as NateDeBaiits organized and promoted the party on social media, and said afterward he did not wish for violence to occur at the party.

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“My deepest condolences to his family and everyone who loved him. This doesn’t even feel real,” he wrote in an Instagram story shared on Monday. “He was my classmate and my friend, and I’m truly heartbroken.” 

He also wrote that he’d be leaving San Jose due to alleged death threats against him.

“This is not something we want to see in our community, this level of violence,” Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Brooks Jarosz said in a press conference on Tuesday. “But rest assured, our deputies and our detectives are committed to leaving no stone unturned and making sure that we find whoever did this and bring them to justice.”

He said detectives have conducted dozens of interviews and the investigation is ongoing.

Those with information or video footage of the party can contact the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office at 408-808-4431 or [email protected].