On May 6, members of the Gilroy Police Department’s Anti-Crime Team were proactively patrolling for criminal activity. During this time, they saw a male (Jose Martinez, 26-years-old) driving a vehicle and recognized him as being a gang member and a wanted felon.
When they attempted to stop Martinez, he fled in his vehicle and he led patrol officers on a vehicle pursuit. Martinez drove into a parking lot in the 800 block of El Cerrito Way and crashed into an unoccupied vehicle. He ran from the vehicle while holding onto his front waistband. He removed a handgun from his waistband and threw it over a fence. The handgun landed right where several children were playing. Martinez was quickly arrested by responding officers. Luckily, the loaded handgun was recovered before any of the children were able to pick it up. The handgun was determined to be stolen from a city in the Central Valley.
Martinez was booked for $155,000 in felony warrants, a no-bail warrant, felony evading, felon in possession of a handgun/ammunition, possession of a stolen handgun and several other charges. Martinez was currently out of custody but was being supervised on probation for several felony convictions. The Gilroy Police Department encourages citizens to report criminal conduct that is occurring in our community.
