South Bay man sentenced to prison for multiple unprovoked attacks
FILE - Generic gavel on wooden table.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A 37-year-old South Bay man was sentenced to more than 37 years in prison this past week for three violent armed attacks on innocent people over two years, the Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney said.
The sentencing of Alfonso Navarro, a resident of the unincorporated community of San Martin, followed his conviction by a jury last month on 13 counts ranging from assault with a deadly weapon to possession of a weapon by a felon.
In 2018 and 2019, Navarro fired a gun at three motorists during a road rage confrontation, shot at a Home Depot security guard after shoplifting, and used an ax on a car carrying a mother and her three children, prosecutors said.
Bullet casings found at the scene connected Navarro to a July 12, 2018 road rage case in which the driver of a white truck pulled out a handgun and fired at least three rounds toward two men following a minor accident, prosecutors said. More than a year later, the District Attorney Crime Laboratory matched the casings collected by the California Highway Patrol to a gun found on Navarro during a later arrest, officials said.
In January of 2019 Navarro fired a shot into the ground when he was stopped by a guard at Home Depot in Gilroy after leaving the store with a spool of copper wire, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Navarro in January 2019 used an ax to strike the car of a woman who was visiting relatives in San Martin with her three daughters. Navarro sped off in his car and led Gilroy police and Sheriff's deputies on a chase before he crashed into a fence. Deputies found a compound hunting bow, two axes, ammunition, and a revolver in the car, officials said.
"The defendant went on a crime spree that terrorized innocent people in our community who had the misfortune of randomly encountering him," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "The District Attorney's Office is thankful for the collaborative work by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's office, the California Highway Patrol, the Gilroy Police Department, and the Santa Clara County Crime lab to piece the evidence together and ensure this dangerous offender is held accountable for victimizing so many."