The non-profit charity Mothers Against Murder (MAM) is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect in the shooting of a resident over the past weekend who had carried out a series of thefts from parked cars in Palo Alto.
This was made known by the Police Department through a statement in which it detailed that the incident took place last Saturday, January 29.
It was around 11:58 p.m. that day when the call center received a call reporting a gunshot wound during a carjacking that had just occurred in the 3600 block of South Court.
The caller reported that he had not been hit by the suspects who fled in a vehicle, to which the officers responded immediately, but were unable to locate them, the authority said.
In turn, he noted that the investigation revealed that the victim, a man in his thirties, noticed lights shining on the street in front of his house. When he looked outside, he saw several suspects walking down the street with flashlights, shining lights on parked cars and trying to open car doors.
The man came out of his house to confront them and found one of the suspects standing by the open driver's side door of his car in his driveway, and chased him on foot as they ran toward a getaway vehicle.
As the suspects were getting into the vehicle, the victim heard what he thought was a gunshot and thought he saw the impact of the projectile on the pavement in front of him. The vehicle exited northbound on South Court and then eastbound on East Meadow Drive. The victim then called the police. Officers located a spent .40 caliber pistol shell casing at the scene and will process it into evidence.
Police believe this group of suspects was the same group that was later reported to have committed similar crimes in the 700 block of Talisman Court earlier that evening.
"We hope this reward will encourage someone with information about this dangerous suspect and his accomplices to come forward and talk to our detectives," said Chief Robert A. Jonsen of the Palo Alto Police Department.
"Violence of any kind will not be tolerated in our community, and we are deeply grateful for the support from Mothers Against Murder to help reduce gun violence," he added.
Mothers Against Murder is a nonprofit charitable organization founded in 2003 by longtime Palo Alto resident Roger Smith, who remains the corporation's president.
It aims to ensure that the rights of crime survivors and their families are not ignored within the criminal justice system and to achieve a fairer and more balanced system for all.
Mothers Against Murder is a vocal advocate for survivors of violence, with three main objectives: fighting for justice, raising awareness and empathy, and providing moral and financial support.
For more information on this partnership, you can visit their website at www.mothersagainstmurder.org or call (650) 285-9221.
Finally, the Palo Alto Police Department called on anyone with information about this incident to call the 24-hour call center at (650) 329-2413.
He noted that information can be submitted anonymously via email to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voicemail to (650) 383-8984.
