In the early morning hours on January 16th, 2019, Fairfield patrol officers responded to a reported shooting in the 1600 block of Clay Street. Responding officers found the victim and determined they had sustained a serious, but non-life-threatening gunshot wound. The victim was transported to a local hospital where they are still recovering from their injuries.
Fairfield Investigations detectives started working the case and learned an altercation had occurred that culminated in the shooting of the victim. The investigation identified Ernesto Martinez, a 27-year-old Fairfield resident as the shooting suspect. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Martinez, for attempted murder, and handed it off to the Fairfield Police Department’s Special Operations Team (SOT).
SOT started tracking Martinez and ultimately located him on January 24, 2019. During Martinez’s arrest, he was found to be in possession of a loaded semi-automatic handgun. This handgun matched evidence already obtained, providing a strong belief it was the firearm used in the crime. Detectives obtained a search warrant to search Martinez’s residence in the 300 block of San Jose Street. During the search of the residence an additional semi-automatic handgun was recovered. Ammunition matching the handgun Martinez had on his person, and matching evidence left at the scene, was recovered as well.
Martinez was interviewed by detectives and ultimately booked into the Solano County Jail for attempted murder, being armed during the commission of a felony, felon in possession of firearms, felon in possession of ammunition, violation of his probation, and violation of his Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS).
This investigation illustrates the continued work and collaboration of the Fairfield Police Department’s employees both out on the street and behind the scenes. Patrol, Investigations detectives and SOT worked together to solve the case, arrest the suspect and remove illegally possessed firearms from our community.
