SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Court TV) — A California man has been charged with murder after police said he shot his pregnant girlfriend’s young son in the head during an argument.
“We are sickened and heartbroken at the senseless murder,” Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement announcing the arrest of Sergio Colin-Gomez.
Prosecutors said that the suspect is not related to the victim, who was identified to KRON as 3-year-old Ivan Martinez-Alvarado. Colin-Gomez had been dating the child’s mother, and prosecutors told KTVU that the suspect had been in Ivan’s life for approximately two years.
Ivan and his mother had been watching television when Colin-Gomez came home at 10 p.m. on Feb. 20. Prosecutors said that after the child fell asleep, Colin-Gomez began to accuse his girlfriend of being unfaithful. The child’s mother told police that during the argument she began to fear for her safety, so she went to her son’s room and locked the door.
Colin-Gomez allegedly broke into the room and then returned with a handgun that he aimed within a foot of the child’s head. In a police report obtained by KRON, the girlfriend told officers that Colin-Gomez repeatedly demanded she confess to infidelity and told her “Don’t be stupid,” and yelled, “Yes or no” before shooting the child in the head.
“Nothing we achieve in court, no jury or judge, can make up for the lost life of this innocent child,” Rosen said. “We will sadly but steadfastly do our job to make sure this person will never harm another.”
After the shooting, Colin-Gomez fled the apartment and the child’s mother called 911. Prosecutors said that while Colin-Gomez initially resisted arrest, he was ultimately subdued and taken into custody. He did not enter a plea at his arraignment, KRON reported.
According to records obtained by KTVU, Colin-Gomez legally owned the gun used in the killing. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
