GILROY
– City police chased and caught a suspected gang member who they
believe opened fire on three Forest Street residents Sunday because
they didn’t speak English.
GILROY – City police chased and caught a suspected gang member who they believe opened fire on three Forest Street residents Sunday because they didn’t speak English.
Witnesses said Leon Martinez, 22, of Salinas, fired four shots at three Spanish-speaking men in the parking lot of an apartment complex at 8323 Forest St., just south of Leavesley Road. Two bullets hit 22-year-old Abelino Hernandez: one in the side and one in the thigh, according to police Sgt. Noel Provost.
Hernandez was airlifted to a San Jose trauma center. His condition was unavailable as of press time.
“We got a call from the hospital, and he’s doing OK,” 20-year-old Alicia Hinojosa, who lives in the complex and heard the shots, said Sunday afternoon. Her husband and Hernandez are friends, she said.
After a short car chase and house-to-house search, police found Martinez locked in the bathroom of a house on IOOF Avenue, across the street from South Valley Middle School. The residents, who were home, didn’t even know he was there.
Police suspect Martinez may belong to a gang of Norteños, U.S.-born Hispanics who fight with Mexican nationals, or Sureños. Norteños’ color is red, and Sureños’ is blue. Martinez was wearing a red hat and red shorts at the time of the shooting, according to Hinojosa and police.
Police do not know for sure whether Martinez is a gang member but are treating the shooting as gang-related and referring it to their gang-specialty Anti-Crime Team for further investigation, Provost said.
The three men Martinez shot at have never been involved in gangs, according to Hinojosa. At least one was wearing red shorts. Police said they have no evidence of gang involvement on the victims’ part.
“This guy, the shooter, just drove up here,” Hinojosa said. “Crazy guy. I’ve never seen someone so crazy.”
Hinojosa said none of the three men recognized Martinez when he drove his GMC sport utility vehicle into their parking lot at about 1 p.m. Sunday. They were standing in the carport, talking when Martinez asked them a question in English. They didn’t understand and asked him if he spoke Spanish.
In response, he drew a large-caliber revolver from his vehicle and started shooting.
Martinez drove away immediately, but someone called police at the same time. Police officer Mark Tarasco saw the SUV and followed it over to Murray Avenue until Martinez stopped near San Ysidro Park and fled westward on foot. Tarasco reported Martinez’s description over the radio and stayed with the SUV, where he found a gun.
Within the next few minutes, police received numerous 9-1-1 calls from residents, saying a strange man was jumping fences and running through backyards. Using these residents’ accounts, police were able to track Martinez’s movements.
Police called the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office for backup, and seven deputies responded to help. They set up a perimeter at IOOF, Forest and Walnut Lane and began searching houses.
“We did home and backyard searches of (13) homes before we finally found him,” Provost said. Police arrested Martinez on suspicion of attempted murder at nearly 3:30 p.m., almost two-and-a-half hours after the shooting in a bathroom at 340 IOOF.
Isai Medina, 17, who lives there, answered the door when the police officer knocked. He said he had no idea there was a man hiding in the bathroom.
“(The officer) told me, “We’re searching for a guy. We think he’s in your house. Can we search your house?” Medina said. “I said, ‘Yeah, go ahead.’ … I was scared.”
“The homeowners who were in that one-block area where we set up our perimeter were extremely instrumental in the capture of this dangerous criminal,” Provost said. “They were all more than happy to let us search their homes and their property. … If it wasn’t for that amount of cooperation, it would have been somewhat unlikely that we would have been able to catch (Martinez). … I commend them.”
In his jail cell on Sunday, Martinez could be heard from the police station lobby, bellowing curse words and banging on the gates. He has since been taken to the county jail.
The shooting is comparable to one in May 2001, when 24-year-old Soledad student Juan Trigueros was shot and killed at a pay phone in front of the Leavesley Road 7-Eleven store. Paul Zapata, a Gilroy Norteño gang member, is scheduled to go on trial for the murder this month. The two men had never met, according to police, but Zapata shot Trigueros because he looked like a Mexican national.
