Three adults and a juvenile were arrested and two young children taken into protective custody Wednesday in Morgan Hill after police received word that the suspects were armed with a handgun.
According to a press release from the Morgan Hill Police Department, officers responded to Vineyard Town Center at about 7:15 p.m. on a report of a person in the area with a handgun. Witnesses said the armed suspect was connected to a black Lexus SUV.
Responding officers located the suspect vehicle and made a high-risk approach, demanding that the three suspects surrounding the vehicle surrender to authority. All three suspects allegedly refused police orders and the juvenile had to be brought down by responding officers, police say, when he refused to show his hands and continued to reach to his waistband. When the boy was on the ground, police say, a black handgun and a fixed-blade knife fell from his person.
One of the adult suspects, 27-year-old Jacob Coronado of Santa Clara, was holding an infant at the time of the incident. A second child was also involved, but police did not specify where the second child was as the suspects were being arrested. The second suspect, 23-year-old Santa Clara resident Timothy Grimes, was also arrested at the scene.
As the arrests were being made, a woman approached and told police she was the vehicle’s owner and mother of the two children. A background check of Tomasina Clay, 28, of Gilroy, showed that she had an outstanding $10,000 arrest warrant for petty theft. She was then also arrested at the scene and later booked into Santa Clara County Jail for the warrant and her children were taken into the custody of family members.
A search of the vehicle turned up a second handgun on the floor of the back seat. Police later discovered both weapons were actually pellet guns, according to the release.
Coronado and Grimes were each booked into Santa Clara County Jail for child endangerment and resisting arrest. The juvenile was booked into Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall for child endangerment, resisting arrest, and carrying a concealed weapon. The teen is also facing an additional Morgan Hill municipal code charge for possession of an imitation weapon.
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