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A birthday party at the East Palo Alto Senior Center turned fatal late Saturday when one man was shot to death and another was wounded as they tried leaving the party following an argument , East Palo Alto police reported Sunday.
Police said they do not have a suspect, but have recoverd shell casings.
Det. David Carson reported that Eduardo Bustos Martinez of East Palo Alto was killed about 11 p.m. Saturday as he was driving a white van out of the Senior Center parking lot, at University Avenue and Bell Street. He said Martinez may not have been the intended target of the shooting.
Another occupant of the van, Omar Camarena-Luna of East Palo Alto, who was sitting in the front passenger seat and may have been the primary target, was shot multiple times in his lower back, but is listed in stable condition at a local hospital.
Another man and two toddlers in the van were uninjured, police said.
When police arrived, Martinez was slumped over the wheel of the van, which was blocking the westbound lanes of University. Martinez was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound at the scene by Menlo Park Fire Protection District medics.
Carson said the preliminary investigation revealed that Camarena-Luna and Martinez attended
a child’s birthday party at the Senior Center.
During the party, Camarena-Luna got into an argument with unknown Hispanic man, but the argument was diffused by other party
attendees.
Camarena-Luna and Martinez then decided to leave
the party, but gunfire sprayed the van as it was leaving the parking lot, Carson reported.
Detectives from the department’s Criminal Investigations Division “are actively investigating this matter and are attempting to develop leads and a motive,” Carson said.
They are specifically seeking witnesses who may have seen the crime.
Anyone who may have witnessed or has any knowledge about the crime is urged to call: Detective Angel Sanchez at 650-853-3144, or call East Palo Alto Police Dispatch 650-321-1112 or the police Tip Line 650-853-8477 or East Palo Alto Murder Hotline 888-MURDER-0
A celebration, let alone a child’s party should never end like this. What a sad situation for all involved.
And not a word or a protest or a march from EPA Mayor Pat Foster. Where is her leadership? Where is her outrage? She’s so good at that. And by the way, the City of Pal0 Alto should tell the San Francisco and San Jose TV stations that EPA is not the same as Palo Alto – different city, different county. The 94303 ZIP CODE shared by both cities causes enough grief especially in insurance rates and real estate statistics. When a shuttle driver at SFO asked us where we wanted to go after midnight, he didn’t want to drive us to ‘94303’ until we explained we were on the west side of highway 101. Then we got a ride.
For the record, Pat Foster is no longer mayor and no longer on the City Council.
yes, sharing the 94303 zip code with East Palo Alto has been on ongoing problem. Does anyone know how this can be changed?
Why are they waiting for the mayor??
Those cowboys who are out there in the streets with their guns need to be corralled up………
I got sick and tired of being called in for jury duty years ago in SC County, even though I lived in SM County. I’m tired of people thinking that the west side of 101 is all Shallow Alto, when it’s also EPA and Menlo.
I’m tired of reading the shallow online whines of people who have no compassion for an innocent man killed and he companions, incl children, endangered.
Here on the westside, we heard the gunshots, as we frequently do. But to know you heard a murder but couldn’t do anything about it is very sad, very frustrating.
What can be done about folks trying to settle a disagreement with gun shots and death not to mention the endangerment to the children and the example they are exposed to on a daily basis. We need some cultural intervention and education to help sort this out. There is a heavey sadness about all of this and a resignation as this story or one like it appears frequently in the media. Let’s get some good minds together and really explore this.
Just Listening, we HAVE cultural intervention already, it just goes the wrong way. TV, movies, and music often indicate that the way to express anger, frustration, general dissatisfaction, or whatever is through an act of violence. Sometimes that act is subdued, like pushing, slapping, pulling something that hurts, and stuff like that. (Witness the Hanna Montana sitcom even.) But often the hero in a movie will punch, shoot, kick, slice, or whatever the bad guy with the idea that the bad guy deserved it. Of course, the shooter in this story got to choose his own “bad guy”, and he happened to be (from what I can tell) a good guy.
If you are looking for cultural intervention, this guy was just doing what he was taught to do by the media.
It is very strange to have a childrens birthday party go till 11pm.
This sounds like a case of gangs and drugs, but what else is new, where is the outrage, where is the march to city hall?
We have compassion. We are just disgusted with the low life mentality of the garbage who does this kind of thing. As most people in EPA probably are. It’s the thug/gangsta mentality. Get rid of the cRap (now disguised as ‘hip hop) that glorifies the low life badass gangsta lifestyle. It is NOT the poetry of the streets. Its a bunch of low lifes running their (largely) uneducated mouths instead of getting education and a job. God Forbid, then you can’t have all that materialistic designer crap and all those drugs so idealized in cRap ‘music’. On MTV the other day I heard some idiot being interviewed about how he has his ‘music’ and his ‘nine’ and that’s all he needs. That idiot is a recording ‘artist’ and kids are buying their…product. Your kids. More parents really ought to sit down and listen to that stuff, it’s appalling! I resent that they even play it in schools. When my kids were in 4th grade there was a radio on at lunch playing cRap. I was trying to keep it away from them, and there it was at school. If you close your eyes, tune out the rhythm and words and simply listen to the tones of the rappers voices, all you hear is anger and attitude. Its all very negative. It glorifies violence. Fosters anger and a victim mentality, which then makes certain people act out in very antisocial ways.
As I often do, I urge you to get your facts straight – if you can at all. The man killed was in his late 60s.
Where is the outrage? How would you know, given how uninformed and disconnected you are. You really have no idea who’s outraged in this situation – I doubt they’d share their feelings with you. Most of the Latinos in EPA are rather private and keep to their families, friends and church or whatever other community connections they have. They don’t often post opinions on message boards, they don’t care what you think of them.
Given the violence since the beginning of the year, I wouldn’t be surprised if EPA residents didn’t have another march, similar to the one they just had.
Go fix the problems in your own neighborhood. Sheesh, hate crimes, burglaries, police problems, now the Feds. You have enough in your own backyard to take care of!
The problems will never stop until the people of EPA stand up against it. You can’t tell me that atleast 90% if not more of these shootings, robberies and other violant crimes are not witnessed. If you can find the courage to report these criminals and follow through with the prosection these people commiting the crimes would be gone. I know that people are scared to report the crimes, but until you find the strength to stop it, it’s going to continue. I believe that only 5% to 10% of the people who live in this town cause all the problems. I have know a lot of good people from EPA. I hope you can fix this problem.