The man police believe shot into a car full of people, injuring
two, at the Stoney Court Apartments in 2007 will stand trial for
his alleged crimes.
The man police believe shot into a car full of people, injuring two, at the Stoney Court Apartments in 2007 will stand trial for his alleged crimes.
Tomas Martinez Romero was held over for trial after several witnesses identified him as the shooter at his preliminary hearing. The trial, which Deputy District Attorney Danny Carr estimated will last two weeks, will begin 9 a.m. Sept. 1 in Department 110 at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill.
The shooting occurred the evening of March 27, 2007, when Martinez Romero walked up to a white Toyota occupied by the brother of one of Martinez Romero’s acquaintances and four other males, police said. Romero then fired almost 10 rounds in the car, which was parked outside the Stoney Court Apartments – located just south of San Ysidro Park and west of U.S. 101 in east Gilroy – police said.
According to police reports and testimony given by Gilroy police officer Eustaquio Rodriguez, the two brothers – one who was shot and one who police believe was in the same car that Martinez Romero got out of prior to the shooting – had an argument in the parking lot minutes before the shooting occurred. After the argument, the brothers retreated to their respective cars – the white Toyota occupied by the victims and another car, described as an older model brown Cadillac.
According to Rodriguez, who interviewed both brothers, the brown Cadillac then began to leave the apartment’s parking lot before Martinez Romero told the driver to stop, saying he had to urinate. Martinez Romero then got out of the car and disappeared. While Martinez Romero was gone, gunshots rang out and Martinez Romero hurried back to the car, telling the driver to step on it because he had heard shots fired, according to Rodriguez.
Two of the Toyota’s occupants – the brother of Martinez Romero’s acquaintance and a juvenile who was 14 at the time of the shooting – were wounded.
