Louisiana homicide suspect arrested in Jefferson City

UPDATE 12/11: Martinez has also been charged with possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the probable cause statement, when officers pulled Martinez over they could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from his car.

Police said they searched the vehicle and found a grinder with marijuana residue on it and less than ten grams of marijuana.

Martinez admitted to officers that he had smoked marijuana and purchased the grinder.

UPDATE: 4:30 p.m.: A homicide suspect wanted in Louisiana has been arrested in Jefferson City.

According to Jefferson City police, Derik Gomez-Martinez and three others were arrested Tuesday night after multiple shots fired calls led to an increased police presence. It’s not determined if Gomez-Martinez is connected to the shots fired.

JCPD received multiple calls about gunshots and damaged cars in the 200 block of Ventura over a span of about two weeks according to Capt. Doug Shoemaker. The department decided to use its Community Action Team to increase patrol and speak with neighbors.

“In terms of the investigation itself, what’s happened over the last few weeks is we’ve had a number of complaints, calls and responses to calls for shots fired to the point where we had a few vehicles that had been shot,” Shoemaker said. “Based upon our resources available, the best option was to utilize our community action team, which is a group of officers dedicated to address quality of life issues.”

Tuesday was the first night the community action team was in the area, speaking with residents and making stops.

“A lot of foot patrol, contact with residents, things of that nature,” Shoemaker said. “It goes back to the community policing where they get out of the cars and talk to people and that leads to contacts with residents and suspects, four of whom were taken to jail.”

Jefferson City police haven’t released the names of the additional three suspects who were taken into custody, but Shoemaker said they were arrested for a type of narcotics violation.

According to police, Gomez-Martinez was initially taken into custody for possession of marijuana. Shoemaker said Gomez-Martinez was was uncooperative and gave officers a false name. After officers were able to positively identify him, they discovered Gomez-Martinez was wanted in Louisiana for a homicide investigation.

“We have this arrest of the homicide suspect which is this shocking news to people that we have a homicide suspect from New Orleans in our community, but we also have to understand that our community like every other has some problem issues and our job is to address those issues,” Shoemaker said.

Jefferson City is between two large U.S. highways, not far from interstates. Shoemaker said the location of the city lends itself to the possibility of criminals driving through, or staying to avoid punishment for alleged crimes elsewhere.

“I think the location itself lends itself to some level of possibility that we could have people from other communities come in and wish to do our community harm, commit crimes or hide from crimes they’ve committed elsewhere,” Shoemaker said. “I think any kind of community that has a highway running through it has that chance. Our job is to be as proactive as possible and try to figure out who these persons are and make sure we get them where they need to be in terms of going to jail or back to the original jurisdiction where they committed the alleged crime in the first place.”

ORIGINAL STORY: Jefferson City police arrested Derik Gomez-Martinez on Tuesday night after officers initially took him into custody for possession of marijuana but later discovered he had an outstanding warrant for homicide out of New Orleans.

Jefferson City police said the arrest was a result from officers responded to a number of calls involving disturbances and shots fired instances on or near Ventura Avenue.

Police made four arrests Tuesday night, including Martinez.

Officers said Martinez initially gave false information about his identity and he was uncooperative with police during the investigation.

Martinez is currently awaiting extradition at the Cole County Jail.