A group of three young men gunned down an 18-year-old Hispanic
man in daylight on a residential street just a block from City Hall
and the Gilroy Police Department this afternoon, cutting short a
life he was about to turn toward the straight and narrow, family
members said.
Now updated with more photos and quotes from Councilman Perry
Woodward.
A group of three young men gunned down an 18-year-old Hispanic man in daylight on a residential street just a block from City Hall and the Gilroy Police Department this afternoon, cutting short a life he was about to turn toward the straight and narrow, family members said.
About 1:20 p.m., residents near the intersection of Church and Sixth streets heard two shots, and then a rapid fire of more shots. When they came outside, Larry Martinez – whose family said he had only been in Gilroy for one week after getting out of jail – lay in the road near the sidewalk outside 165 Church St.
“It was like watching my own child die,” the victim’s cousin told her friends and family, recounting the moments after she heard shots ring out a few blocks away and then ran over to see Martinez struggling to breathe on the ground. He looked her in the eyes and died shortly thereafter, she said. It was unclear if an ambulance was en route at the time or not.
After police arrived and covered the body with a yellow tarp – leaving only a piece of red clothing peeking out – the victim’s grandmother, Joann Duran, paced around, smoking cigarettes with a look of disbelief. The police chaplain comforted the woman between cries and moans as dozens of bystanders stood behind police tape, staring at the body with mouths agape.
“He was going to straighten his life out,” Duran said. “He had respect for everybody, and that’s all that he wanted. He wanted the respect back in return.”
Martinez’s mother, Monica Fernandez, showed up about two hours after the incident. She drove 66 miles from Dos Palos.
“I just want to say that I love my son, Junior,” she said. “I don’t know what I’ll do. I crave to hold him one more time and can’t because someone took my son from me. He was an 18-year-old boy who was going to start a new job this week. He had everything going for him. He had brothers and sisters who loved him and a mother and step-father who had hopes of him joining their family.”
Fernandez added that her son planned to start a construction job for the family business Wednesday.
All that was cut short, though, when the three suspects opened fire on Martinez.
Family members said he was walking along Sixth Street with two friends who ran away when the suspects, who were also on foot, began shooting. Police said two of the three Hispanic male suspects were wearing white shirts while the other wore a dark-colored shirt. They were last seen on foot near the intersection of Fourth and Church streets, according to Sgt. John Sheedy.
About a dozen police officers combed the area for evidence. They said they did not know if the killing was gang-related.
“It’s still too early,” Sgt. Sheedy said. “We’re still in the very early stages of the investigation.”
Sgt. Jim Gillio said it was especially surprising that the killing would take place in the middle of the day.
“Gang violence is definitely on the rise,” Gillio said. “Our murder rate is up 300 percent as of today” compared to last year.
The shooting was this year’s third killing. The first was a late-night stabbing death in downtown, for which a man is currently under arrest, and the second was a mid-day September shooting in north Gilroy.
Residents and city officials say the most recent slaying is further evidence that Gilroy is becoming a more dangerous and violent place to live. Some even said they were not surprised by the violence.
“Surprised? No, not at all,” Ken Carman said, a 20-year resident who heard the shots from inside his home near the intersection of 10th and Rosanna streets.
“Twenty years ago nothing like this would happen,” Carman said. “I’m scared to death. I won’t walk anymore. I just drive.”
City Councilman Perry Woodward also said Martinez’s death did not surprise him, but stopping more like his is another matter entirely, he said.
“Violence leads to more violence in these situations. It’s a hard cycle to end,” Woodward said. “We are seeing and are likely going to continue to see retaliation on top of retaliation, and this happened back in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.”
For Woodward, Martinez’s death drives home the point that police can ill afford to take any more officers off the street. Budget cuts in June froze 11.5 positions, including four uniformed officers, and the council’s recent layoff plan includes cutting three sworn officers who were planning to retire, a probation officer, three community service officers and a secondary officer who runs arrestees to jail, thus freeing up beat officers to patrol the streets. The layoff plan included cutting an additional secondary officer, but the council decided not to include that position in the cutbacks.
“We’re already down to our core service level,” Woodward said. “I’m not advocating a reconsideration of the layoffs … but we need to step up enforcement and be proactive.”
The shooting comes just four days after a gang fight left a 21-year-old bleeding from a stab wound outside Taco Bell in south Gilroy. There is no evidence, however, that the two incidents are related. Police have suspects in the stabbing, but had not arrested anyone for the crime as of Monday night. Read more about the Taco Bell stabbing.
Just a few hours earlier, more than two dozen people had been down the block, at the corner of Sixth and Eigleberry streets, for an emotional Veterans Day breakfast and ceremony. Read more about the Veterans Day ceremonies.
More on this developing story and photos from the crime scene will be posted as information is gathered.
Parties with information are encouraged to contact Detective Devlin at (408) 846-0350. Parties wishing to remain anonymous can call the GPD tip line at (408) 846-0330.
Photographer Lora Schraft contributed reporting to this article.
