By Khalida Sarwari
A father desperate to find those responsible for the stabbing death of his 19-year-old daughter at San Jose’s Alum Rock light-rail station on Saturday is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.
Kristina Harris-Perkins, 19, of Stockton, was stabbed along with two friends during an altercation between two groups at the light-rail station at about 10:25 p.m. Saturday, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
Harris-Perkins and her friends, a 19-year-old Oakland man and a 16-year-old girl, were taken to Regional Medical Center of San Jose. Harris-Perkins died that night. Her friends were released Tuesday after undergoing surgery.
In a telephone interview today, Andre Perkins said his daughter had never been involved in a fight in her life.
“She didn’t know how to fight,” Perkins said. “I was so overprotective of her. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Perkins lives in Clovis, about two and a half hours from where Harris-Perkins was raised by her mother in Stockton. Despite the distance, Perkins said he was very close with his only child, who would visit him during weekends.
“She’s the nicest person that you’d ever want to meet,” Perkins said. “I remember when she was in the second grade, she got an award for helping people on the playground. She would give anybody anything. She didn’t mind sharing with anybody.”
Perkins said his daughter had shared exciting news with him recently. She was getting ready to attend a four-year college and had found a job as an assistant manager for transportation at SkyWest Airlines in San Francisco.
She had gotten the job with the help of Job Corps, a federal education and job training youth program that she had joined in October 2008.
“Oh she loved it,” Perkins said of the program.
He said his daughter had wanted to attend a Job Corps program in Los Angeles but that he and her mother wouldn’t let her because they felt it was unsafe.
“We thought San Jose was safer and closer to home,” Perkins said.
On the night she was stabbed, Perkins said his daughter had gone out to see a movie and shop at a mall and was on her way back to her dormitory in San Jose.
“I know she was scared and I guess those people were harassing her and her friends on the train and she tried to call for help,” Perkins said. “This is a tragedy.”
The sheriff’s office is investigating the stabbing and urges anyone with information to contact Detective Sgt. Herman Leon or Detective Sgt. Ryan Elder at (408) 808-4500. Callers wishing to remain anonymous can call the tip line at (408) 808-4431.