After a brief standoff, Hollister police shot a man three times
with a Taser stun gun before he could commit suicide in the parking
lot of Westside Liquors on San Juan Road Monday.
Police responded to a call of a man with a gun after 61-year-old
Ronald Martin fired one shot from a .38 caliber revolver through
his car windshield in front of his home on Wilma Drive around 5pm,
according to police spokesman George Ramirez.
Hollister – After a brief standoff, Hollister police shot a man three times with a Taser stun gun before he could commit suicide in the parking lot of Westside Liquors on San Juan Road Monday.
Police responded to a call of a man with a gun after 61-year-old Ronald Martin fired one shot from a .38 caliber revolver through his car windshield in front of his home on Wilma Drive around 5pm, according to police spokesman George Ramirez.
Martin drove to the parking lot on San Juan Road, where police found him sitting in his car with the unloaded gun and a box of bullets, Ramirez said. As police approached the car, Martin put the gun to his forehead and pulled the trigger three times, Ramirez said.
He then loaded it, put it to his forehead again and pulled the trigger but the gun didn’t fire, Ramirez said. While Martin was waving the gun around, Hollister Police Sgt. James Egan fired a Taser at Martin but was unable to get into the car and take the weapon, Ramirez said. Egan fired the Taser two more times before officers were able to disarm Martin and take him into custody, he said.
“At times when he was going back and forth, the gun would go in the direction of the officers,” Ramirez said. “They showed outstanding restraint.”
Martin was booked into the San Benito County Jail for felony firing at an inhabited dwelling and possession of a loaded gun in a vehicle, and misdemeanor possession of a concealed gun in a vehicle, according to police.
