SAN JOSE — A San Jose gang member who “mocked” his rivals by using colored bullets in a series of deadly drive-by shootings will spend the rest of his life behind bars, prosecutors said.

A jury this week convicted 24-year-old Balam Eugenio Gonzalez of first-degree murder in the deaths of Pedro Cortez on Nov. 23, 2013, and Armando Heredia on Aug. 23, 2012. He was also found guilty of the drive-by premeditated attempted murder of a third person.

Get breaking news with our free mobile app. Get it from the Apple app store or the Google Play store.

“Hopefully, this verdict will send a message that our community and juries will not accept this senseless gang violence that kills our youth and destroys families,” said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker.

Baker said Gonzalez will receive life in prison without parole when he is sentenced this summer.

Gonzalez’s defense attorney, Christine McGuire, could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.

According to prosecutors, Gonzalez is a Sureno gang member who hunted and shot suspected rivals with blue bullets, the color associated with his gang. His victims, witnesses testified, were Norteno gang members, known to favor the color red.

Like our Facebook page for more conversation and news coverage from San Jose, the Bay Area and beyond.

“Mr. Gonzalez — by using the blue bullets — was basically mocking the victims and their gang,” Baker said.

Friends and family of Cortez previously told this new organization he was not a gang member.

The bullets and the unique residue they left behind in the vehicles Gonzalez used proved to be crucial evidence, said Baker, who also credited San Jose police Sgt. John Barg and Santa Clara County Crime Laboratory analysts with making a “good” case “great.”

Gonzalez was already being held for Cortez’s murder in Capitol Park when authorities connected him to the fatal shooting of Heredia and a separate drive-by shooting on Aug. 18, 2012.

Start your day with the news you need from the Bay Area and beyond.

Sign up for our new Morning Report weekday newsletter.

The 2012 crimes occurred during one of the bloodiest stretches of street violence in San Jose’s history, when eight homicides were recorded in 11 days, along with six nonfatal shootings.

Authorities found the .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun used in the 2012 drive-by shootings during an unrelated parole search of a Sureno gang member’s home, said Baker, adding that it had been stolen. The .38-caliber revolver used to kill Cortez has yet to be recovered.