A four-hour ordeal between Gilroy police and a rumored hit man
ended quietly with the arrest of Jose Ornelas at his Gilroy
workplace Tuesday afternoon.
GILROY – A four-hour ordeal between Gilroy police and a rumored hit man ended quietly with the arrest of Jose Ornelas at his Gilroy workplace Tuesday afternoon for allegedly making terrorist threats and brandishing a deadly weapon at his girlfriend and her daughters.
Police sealed off 10th Street, shut down businesses and called out the SWAT team and a K-9 unit in an effort to nab Ornelas, who police believed may have been armed and hiding out in an apartment behind Charlie’s Liquor between Eigleberry and Church streets.
More than a dozen armed officers clad in body armor roamed the area, some with high-powered rifles and automatic weapons, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until police located Ornelas at his workplace, Gourmet Veg-paq, a packaging plant for organic produce on 4375 Davidson Ave. He was taken into custody there without incident and brought to the Santa Clara County jail where he awaits formal charges from the District Attorney’s office, police said.
From 10 a.m. until after 2 p.m. Tuesday, police were in the 7-Eleven and Charlie’s Liquor parking lot at 10th and Eigleberry streets trying to lure Ornelas, aka Jose Arguirre, from his girlfriend’s apartment. Police are still sorting out details, but Ornelas apparently fled the apartment when police responded to a domestic disturbance call around 9:30 a.m.
“We had two calls at two different times from two different people claiming (Ornelas) and his girlfriend (Nyuzette Mares) were having some domestic problems,” Assistant Police Chief Lanny Brown said.
Police said Mares’ sister called police around 2 a.m. Tuesday claiming Ornelas had threatened Mares and her two daughters and had been brandishing a “machine gun.” Police searched Mares’ apartment and questioned her regarding Ornelas’ whereabouts, but said she was uncooperative and evasive.
“I have very little doubt this person (Mares) is being less than truthful,” said Sgt. Jack Sheedy, an officer who responded to the early-morning call.
Police said the only sign of a domestic disturbance during the 2 a.m. call was a broken beer bottle in the kitchen that Mares claimed was hers.
Police received a second domestic disturbance call around 9 a.m. from the ex-husband of Mares. Police said the ex-husband was called by one of the young girls, who told her father there was a handgun in the refrigerator. A 9-millimeter pistol was found in the apartment after Ornelas was arrested, police said.
GPD responded to the second call, but did not enter the apartment since Ornelas was considered armed and dangerous. Police got Mares and her two girls, ages 3 and 8, to leave the apartment around 9:30 a.m. Officers did not enter the apartment, however, until 2 p.m.
Brown said GPD had intelligence on Ornelas linking him to various felony activities, including the rumors he worked as a hit man in Mexico, and officers did not want to take any chances. Also, Mares’ claim that Ornelas was not in the apartment did not measure up with the fact he had not gone to work and that both his personal and work vehicle were on site.
“Given what we knew about this guy’s past and given (Mares’) evasiveness, we’re erring on the side of caution here,” Brown said. “This was a very classic beginning to a potentially hostile situation.”
Jonathan Jeisel of South Valley Newspapers’ Gilroy bureau contributed to this report.
