SAN JOSE — Jamie Martinez should have been celebrating his birthday Sunday. Instead, he was shot dead, leaving his family stunned and bereft.

Martinez, 20, was killed on the residential street outside his multiplex where he lived with his girlfriend and young daughter in the mixed-ethnicity neighborhood just south of Little Saigon in east San Jose. The shooting happened around 12:50 in the afternoon, according to San Jose Police.

Police did not name Martinez. His uncle, Sergio Martinez, identified him as the victim.

The shooting appeared to have been a drive-by, said Sergio Martinez, 38. The younger Martinez was shot through the neck, a source told the Mercury News. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

On late Sunday afternoon, hours after the shooting, family members were gathered and standing listlessly at the corner of Bellhurst and Clemence avenues, where police had set up a barricade and strong orange caution tape across the street to protect the crime scene. Two women cried inconsolably, one being hugged by a man, the other by a woman. On the opposite corner and across the street at McLaughlin Park, neighbors and onlookers surveyed the scene.

Most family members and neighbors declined to talk. But Sergio Martinez said his nephew was a mellow guy who mostly hung out with his girlfriend and daughter. Jaime worked in construction and had attended nearby Yerba Buena High School.

“He was like any other kid,” Sergio Martinez, also of San Jose, said. “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Martinez said he didn’t know if the incident was gang-related, but he “hoped not.”

“All I know is he’s gone,” said Martinez, “and we’re not going to get him back.”

A woman was also injured in the shooting, according to San Jose police. But her wounds were superficial, according to the source. Police said the woman, whom they declined to name, was expected to survive.

Police did not release any other details about the shooting and did not say whether they have a suspect. The killing is the fifth in San Jose this year.

Martinez said he heard about the shooting from his family members. He said it was at the same time both shocking and not at all surprising.

“This kind of thing is going on in San Jose a lot. You see it on the news,” he said. “But you don’t expect it to happen to you.”

The area near the shooting is surrounded by multiplexes, many with five units apiece. A pair of huskies was running up and down Bellhurst while people gathered at the corners. A few neighbors were standing around talking.

Jerry Tran, 57, lives down Bellhurst from where the barricade was set up. He’s lived near there for more than three years. Some of his Mexican neighbors play their music loud in the morning, but other than that, “not a bad area,” he said.

“Normally, people are working,” said Tran, a welder. “It’s not that bad.”

Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285 or twolverton@mercurynews.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/troywolv.