District Attorney Dolores Carr today announced an unprecedented move in prosecuting gang violence in Santa Clara County, charging five people involved in the shooting of 18-year-old Larry Martinez with murder.

“We are sending the message today, by prosecuting this case, that our community and our law enforcement agencies do not and will not tolerate gang violence,” Carr said at a press conference in front of the new South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill. 

“The people of Santa Clara County deserve protection from these menaces. People need to understand that if they choose to become involved in gang violence … they can be expected to be prosecuted by our office.”

Carr will be using a rarely-invoked “provocative act” clause in California law to prosecute both the assailants who shot Martinez, as well the three friends who were with him when he was gunned down.

“Obviously, we are prosecuting the people who pulled the trigger,” Carr said. “But in addition to those, California law allows us to prosecute persons who commit an act that is likely to provoke a deadly response,” Carr said. “This legal theory really allows us to hold accountable all parties, no matter who dies.” This is the first time that Carr has used the rule.

The Nov. 11 slaying of Larry Martinez was the result of an afternoon clash between Norteño and Sureño gang members just a few blocks away from the Gilroy Police Department.

At the press conference, Carr alleged that defendants Heather Marie Ashford, 18, and Angel Solorzano, 19,  are members of a Norteño criminal street gang. She said that defendants Christian Giovanny Jimenez, 21, Engardo Centeno, 18, and a juvenile suspect saw them driving in the area of 6th and Church Street in Gilroy and threw a rock at their car.

“As a response, the Norteño group drove away, picked up a third person, an associate of their gang, and returned to the scene intending to retaliate. They were armed with a baseball bat and sneaked up on the Sureño gang,” Carr said. “Right as they were near the Sureño gang, the Sureño gang turned around and began shooting with at least two firearms, and Larry Martinez was killed as a result.

“We’ve reviewed carefully the evidence that has been developed so far in this case, and we determined that all of the gang members from both sides should be charged with the murder of Larry Martinez.”

This announcement comes a week after Jimenez was arrested on probation violation, a murder warrant and a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement administrative warrant, and a day after Solarzano and Ashford were arrested on murder warrants in connection with Martinez’s murder.

Carr acknowledged that Martinez’s alleged Norteño accomplies might consider themselves victims. But in truth, she said, “they are all accountable for being members of criminal street gangs and provoking this kind of deadly response by going after each other in our community.”

Gilroy Chief of Police Denise Turner reported that Gilroy has a population of about 51,000 people, and 900 or so documented gang members and affiliates.

“We have seen a spike in violent gang activity in Gilroy, and we are taking it very seriously,” she said. “Our community has been in fear.”

She said the Nov. 11 shooting also lead a drive by shooting. “Those two subjects have also been arrested and prosecuted and now have pled guilty,” she said.

“We don’t want to tolerate that in our backyard any longer, so we are taking a tough stance, and I appreciate the DA’s efforts in going out on a limb and doing this very unusual filing. We think it will send a clear, strong message to these criminal street gangs.”