Update: 9:20 a.m., May 9: A medical examiner with the Santa Clara County Coroner's Office said no information is available regarding the body found Tuesday afternoon at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos because his identify has not been confirmed yet.
An unidentified man was found Tuesday afternoon in the Lakeview area of Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos dead from an apparent fatal gunshot wound to the head, according to Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police.
At 2:45 p.m., officers were dispatched to the Lakeview area of Vasona on a report that an adult male had suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head, said Los Gatos Monte-Sereno Police spokesman Sgt. Kerry Harris.
The body was located near the parking lot and picnic area on the west side of the park, near the gate from Peppertree Lane to University Avenue.
At the scene, officers found the victim, a white male, deceased on the ground with a shotgun nearby, Harris said.
Based on witness statements and evidence found at the scene, the case is being investigated as a probable suicide, he added.
The body was recovered by the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office, Harris added.
Los Gatos Patch reader Pat Brogan said she had seen the crime scene Tuesday and believed it was apparently a suicide with no identification.
"Not sure how he did it ... The night before we had seen up the hill a shopping cart with stuff (homeless stuff) and further down the road, abandoned sleeping bags," Brogan said.
The area remained roped off for several hours after the body was discovered, Brogan added.
The coroner took the body around 5:45 p.m. and Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies, Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police and Santa Clara County Park police responded to the incident, Brogan said.
The Suicide and Crisis Services of Santa Clara County provides a crisis hotline number, 1-855-278-4204 (Toll-free), where highly trained volunteers are available 24 hours a day to talk with individuals in crisis.
Los Gatos Patch's editorial policy doesn't cover suicides that happen in private, but allows the reporting of those that happen in public places and are seen by witnesses, the public. However, we will not publish victim names unless they're highly visible public figures.
