An 18-year-old was gunned down one block from the police station
in the middle of the afternoon and a mid-day drive-by shooting
followed two days later, leaving police and city officials
wondering whether they are in the midst of a full-on gang war.
An 18-year-old was gunned down one block from the police station in the middle of the afternoon and a mid-day drive-by shooting followed two days later, leaving police and city officials wondering whether they are in the midst of a full-on gang war.
Three Hispanic males ran up to Larry Martinez, 18, on Sixth Street between Eigleberry and Church streets, fired multiple shots and killed him about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, police said. Police have not arrested anyone in connection with the shooting and have not publicly identified any suspects.
Many friends and family members believed the attack was in response to a gang-related stabbing along the 7200 block of Monterey Road Friday evening, but pressure has been building among street gangs since another mid-day shooting in north Gilroy in September. At a candlelight vigil held Wednesday night to honor Martinez’s life, many friends and family members said they heard that a retaliatory killing would happen Monday if police did not make any arrests.
At 12:50 p.m the next day, men riding in a black, two-door car opened fire on a brown SUV that was turning left on Monterey from IOOF Avenue. Both vehicles fled and no one has been reported injured, but two cars in a nearby parking lot had smashed windows.
“We had been worried about retaliation after the last homicide and last stabbing,” Police Chief Denise Turner said Wednesday afternoon before the vigil. “I’m very concerned that we’re in the face of a gang war.”
Detectives and all available personnel are working over time to identify suspects and prevent further violence, Turner said.
A fight broke out Thursday evening at the end of the otherwise calm, tearful vigil, highlighting the height that tensions have reached. More than 45 adults and about a dozen children showed up for the 5 p.m. ceremony, led by Martinez’s family and friends.
“Everyone got their vests on?” Joann Duran, Martinez’s grandmother, said to lighten the mood before she began praying.
“We know Junior’s in heaven, and we need to light that path for him,” Duran said as candlelit faces of family and friends stared into the distance. “Bless all these people for having Junior in their hearts,” she added before imploring those around her to leave vengeance to God.
But as mourners said good-bye and Martinez’s mother, Monica Fernandez, pulled up, a fight began.
The crowd swirled in confusion. Young men began darting in all directions, dodging cars and shouting at one another as they ran down different streets. Women screamed. Some grabbed their children and rushed them to cars, and others ran into houses, slamming iron-gate doors behind them.
Within minutes, nearly all the candles had flickered out and four police cars pulled up, canvassing the bushes and dark yards with flood lights. But no one remained.
Christina Duran, Joann Duran’s aunt, said everyone makes mistakes as teenagers and that Martinez’s future appeared promising despite some of his past decisions.
“Is this what the youth of Gilroy wants its families to go through,” Christina Duran said. “Don’t let this happen to your families.”
Family and friends of Martinez said he planned to turn his life around and start work at his family’s construction firm, partially thanks to his mother who, friends said, never stops working for others.
“There is nobody as hard working and as compassionate as she is,” Christina Duran said of Fernandez, who raised more children than just her own and who one lady said would give anyone the shirt off her back.
That especially includes her son, whose body lay face-down beneath a yellow tarp Tuesday afternoon, only a piece of red clothing jutting out.
“I just want to say that I love my son, Junior,” Fernandez said Tuesday after driving 66 miles from her home in Dos Palos. “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.”
Martinez’s 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 Tuesday. The 20-year resident said he 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 a layoff plan the council is considering 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.
“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.”
Reporter Sara Suddes contributed reporting.
