Deputies shot at a fugitive wanted for a host of violent crimes
in San Martin, but he eluded capture after a high-speed chase,
according to the sheriff’s office and witnesses. The man has served
11 years for manslaughter, is considered armed in dangerous, and
was last seen in Mount Madonna County Park early Wednesday
morning.
Deputies shot at a fugitive wanted for a host of violent crimes in San Martin, but he eluded capture after a high-speed chase, according to the sheriff’s office and witnesses. The man has served 11 years for manslaughter, is considered armed in dangerous, and was last seen in Mount Madonna County Park early Wednesday morning.
Just after midnight Wednesday, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office deputies received a tip that Joel Barnes, 39, of Gilroy, was at a rural residence in San Martin, according to Sgt. Rick Sung. Deputies went to the home at 12605 Harding Ave. and spotted Barnes, wanted for burglary of a pistol, ditching a stolen motorcycle, assault with a deadly weapon and felony domestic violence.
Ignoring orders to surrender, Barnes ran to his green 1973 Ford pickup – license plate no. 4L81646 – and fled the scene, Sung said. Deputies fired shots at Barnes while he fled, but it was unclear if deputies hit Barnes or if Barnes fired back at the deputies.
“It sounded like a firecracker to me, so we just went to sleep,” said Tomiko Thada, who lives and owns a nursery across the street.
Barnes led deputies on a 10- to 15-minute high-speed chase up Redwood Retreat Road and Mount Madonna Road to Mount Madonna County Park, Sung and a witness said. Deputies lost Barnes, who was still in his truck, in the park, Sung said. A resident in the area said that he heard a truck roaring up the road, with sirens following a bit behind.
Wednesday afternoon, the sheriff’s office called off a helicopter and a tactical team in their search for Barnes, leaving the regular beat deputies and one canine team, Sung said. Sung said he had not received any tips as of Thursday.
Back on Wednesday morning, special tactical teams gathered near the historic home of cattle baron Henry Miller atop Mount Madonna. The deputies sat around a trailer on chairs, about 500 feet from where park rangers went about their daily business, directing an ongoing construction project and watering a lawn outside the pen of the park’s rare white fallow deer. Meanwhile, a helicopter circled overhead and deputies set up a perimeter around the park in hopes of spotting Barnes or his truck.
Down in San Martin Wednesday, deputies blocked off Harding Avenue south of Cox Road and scoured the residence where deputies encountered Barnes, using surveying tools to recreate the scene. There were no signs – such as blood – that Barnes had been shot, Sung said. The property where the shooting happened has three residences with three separate mailboxes, and its yards were littered with chairs, a fountain, a child’s pedal car, a tractor, pots, towels, volcanic rocks and cactuses, among other items. What appeared to be two delivery trucks and a white car sat in the back of the lot.
Across the street, sheriff’s deputies surrounded the parking lot of Mt. Green Nursery with crime scene tape and forced the business to close. Still, business was not seriously affected because Thada mostly sells wholesale, she said.
Her family, who has lived there since 1985, had not had any problems with the neighboring residence, Thada said. However, she reported a suspicious pickup – a “very old, American-made,” tan truck with a “lot of beer cans” in its bed – in the parking lot of her business late at night several times, she said.
Nearby neighbors did not pay much attention to the late-night scene. Troy Holderfield didn’t even hear the shots, and his family only found out about the incident when deputies called his house about 1 a.m. to ask if everyone was safe.
However, neighbors had noticed an increase in police activity, with multiple cars passing through the area day and night.
“There was a whole slew of stuff going on,” said Steve Gales, a 20-year San Martin Avenue resident out fixing his mailbox with a sledge hammer Wednesday morning.
Some neighbors said they noticed police had begun carrying heavy firearms.
Barnes served 11 years for manslaughter, starting April 19, 1996, according to Sung and the California Department of Corrections. He was paroled Sept. 26, 2004 and ended his time under the Corrections Department ended Dec. 23, 2007. However, Sung did not have information about Barnes’ previous crime.
Barnes was originally listed as one of the Gilroy Dispatch’s Most Wanted last month after deputies searched a home on the 5000 block of Hecker Pass Highway Aug. 15 looking for Barnes. Instead, deputies arrested two men in their 30s and a teenage girl who were staying in the house on various weapons and drug charges. Between them, the men and the girl had machine guns, methamphetamine for sale, marijuana and stolen property, deputies said.
Then, on Aug. 17, a resident living on the 10000 block of Sycamore Avenue in Morgan Hill reported that Barnes had stolen a handgun worth $200.
Two days later at 4:39 a.m., Barnes abandoned a motorcycle stolen out of Gilroy in a yard on the 13000 block of Sycamore, deputies said.
Barnes was also arrested Feb. 10, 2008, by Gilroy police for making a felony threat and battery, according to Dispatch archives.
Barnes – who is white, about 170 pounds and 5 feet, 10 inches – should be considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached, deputies said.
Anyone with information about Barnes’ whereabouts can call the Sheriff’s dispatch at 299-2311.
Michael Moore contributed reporting to this article.
