This afternoon, police arrested the suspect who attacked a woman who was walking on a neighborhood sidewalk on the evening of December 20. On Thursday, December 20, 2018 at 6:04 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call that a woman was screaming in the 400 block of Miramonte Avenue. The preliminary investigation reveals that a woman in her thirties was walking southbound on Castilleja Avenue when a male suspect came from behind and put his hand over her mouth. The suspect pushed the victim down into the bushes. During the struggle on the ground, the victim started screaming and the suspect began to punch her in the face repeatedly. Neighbors heard the screams and came outside which scared the suspect away. The victim suffered bruising and swelling to her face and bruising to her shoulder. She declined medical attention. A canine and neighborhood search was conducted, but the suspect was not located. Nothing appears to have been stolen from the victim. Detectives followed up on investigative leads and were able to identify the suspect as 28- year-old Marcelo Garcia Martinez, a person with no permanent residential address. Friday evening, a judge granted a felony arrest warrant, for one count of assault with intent to commit a sex offense. An officer located and arrested the suspect at the transit center at 95 University Avenue at 12:30 p.m. today. Police booked the suspect into the Santa Clara County Main Jail pursuant to the warrant. Martinez was also booked on a misdemeanor warrant out of Palo Alto for a minor municipal code violation. A booking photo of the suspect is attached to this release (note: the booking photo has been removed pursuant to AB994 as of December 2023). Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to [email protected] or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through our free mobile app, downloadable at www.bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or www.bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.
