Man shoots at his girlfriend and her children, standoff ensues

Jefferson City police respond to an over night shots fired call, which leads to a standoff. The suspect 34 year old Heriberto Martinez has been charged with seven felonies, including domestic assault, 1st degree child endangerment, unlawful use of a weapon, felony restraint and armed criminal action. He is currently in cole county custody and is being held without bond.

It all started at about 10:30 last night when the suspect called 911 claiming he was gonig to kill himself. When police got there he refused to cooperate, yelling at police, to shoot him.

“We arrived we confronted the suspect who was out in the parking lot, he did have a hangun, he did not drop the handgun despite a number of officers ordering him to do so, kept his hands in his pockets, displayed the gun, told us he wanted us to kill him, a lot of profanity a lot of anger and kept repeating over and over ‘shoot me shoot me kill me’ and so forth”, says Captain Doug Shoemaker with the Jefferson City Police Department.

What police say started with a domestic dispute between a boyfriend and girlfriend, ended with multiple shots fired and a standoff. Martinez was at his girlfriends apartment when he shot a pistol several times at her and her two children. He then held the three there until the girlfriend was able to convince him to leave. Later out in the parking lot he called police threatening to kill himself. Police say they had to bring in S.W.A.T. as well as a Crisis Negotiations Team to help calm down the suspect.

“We know hes armed, we know hes fired, we know he actually had the intent to reload the firearm, so we’re dealing with a very dangerous person here so we actually have to have enough officers present to evacuate other apartments if neccesary, keep people safe, keep people out of the area and that takes more than just a few street cops”, says Capt. Shoemaker.

Captain Shoemaker says quick police response and accurate information from the dispatcher lead to an ultimately positive arrest, after an hour and a half of negotiating.

“As outright against police and just wanting us to kill him, things are changing in that way and it’s just an unfortunate state but we have to constantly be prepared and have to be able to talk to people as best as we can and then be prepared to act, should we be forced to do so”, says Capt. Shoemaker.

Police say they are very thankful that no one was injured during this incident and that one of the flying bullets came within a foot of hitting the neighbor that was sleeping in the apartment next door.