On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, at approximately 11:00 a.m., Oxnard Police Officers were dispatched to the 5000 block of San Juan Avenue in reference to a person making threats to harm family members and himself. Officers arrived on scene and learned that Rodolfo Martinez, a 27-year old Oxnard resident, had threatened to shoot the mother of his child and mentioned that he was in possession of a firearm. Martinez fled the scene in a vehicle before police officers arrived. The officers searched the area and were able to locate Martinez in a parking lot in North Oxnard.
When officers attempted to contact Martinez, he fled in his vehicle. The officers, with assistance from a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department helicopter, pursued Martinez southbound on the 101 Freeway. Throughout the pursuit, Crisis Negotiators with the Oxnard Police Department and personnel with Ventura County Mental Health Ventura County Mental Health were in phone contact with Martinez and encouraged him to give himself up to police. Once in the City of Thousand Oaks, Martinez entered a shopping center parking lot, stopped the vehicle, and refused to exit the vehicle. At this point, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was asked to assist with the incident.
Martinez then drove from the parking lot and headed in a northbound direction towards Oxnard. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department pursued Martinez and used a vehicle intervention technique to stop his vehicle and safely bring the incident to a conclusion. Inside the vehicle, officers located parts to an assault weapon. Martinez was arrested for making criminal threats and felony evading.