Police arrested a Los Gatos, California man who was “prowling” outside a business last week and had an arsenal of weapons with a racist manifesto detailing that he wanted to wipe out Black, Hispanic and Jewish communities.
According to a press release from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, Wesley Charles Martines, 32 was stopped by Campbell Police on July 9 by officers responding to a call from a local business owner about a suspicious man “prowling” outside his business after midnight and looking into cars and a storage shed.
Officers found two AR-style rifles, a handgun, ammunition inscribed with such phrases as “Cop Killer,” “To a widow from the Grim Reaper,” and “A Good Start” along with a handwritten manifesto saying he wanted to wipe out the Black, Hispanic, and Jewish populations, during a search of Martines’ truck at the time of the arrest.
Officers also found body armor, heroin, methamphetamine, an inactive pipe bomb and Martines’s alleged plan to “go to sporting goods store, dress up as an employee and tie everybody up.”
“Once again, law enforcement saved lives before the blood and tears flowed. All of us have a role in stopping the next mass shooting, suicide, or domestic violence murder,” DA Jeff Rosen said.
“We definitely feel a crisis was averted,” Campbell Police Capt. Ian White told CNN.
White said Martines’ interactions with police at the scene were calm and cooperative. He also “tried to rationalize everything, insisting there was no ill-intent.”
Martines has been charged with possession of assault weapons, multiple silencers, drugs, and the makings of a pipe bomb. He was arraigned on the felonies in California’s Hall of Justice on Tuesday. Bail has been set at $300,000, according to the DA’s office.
