January 12, 2016 (KMJ) Fresno – Sheriff’s deputies are looking for a man who violated his restraining order.
On Tuesday morning, a call came in to the Sheriff’s Office that shots were fired in the Mayfair District, and they went to investigate.
Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson Tony Botti says the suspect, 30-year old Jose Padilla had reportedly showed up at 6:00 a.m. at his ex-girlfriend’s house on the 4300 block of Kenmore Drive and began dumping her property on the lawn, got into an argument.
He drove away, and a short time later, gunshots were heard fired in the area.
Deputies went out to the area to check.
Botti says they didn’t have evidence that a shooting actually took place – but the ex-boyfriend was under a restraining order – so deputies went to the Villa Roma Apartments on Weldon, to look for him at his apartment.
“Our deputies found the vehicle, here – an SUV with a trailer – everything that matched the description, and they made call outs to try and make him come out of his apartment, but no luck in that.” -Tony Botti, Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson.
Around 9:00 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office got a tip that Padilla was driving near the 168 freeway and deputies located the car and tried to make a traffic stop but it turned out that wasn’t Padilla in the car.
“At that time, he threw a gun out the window near the McKinley on-ramp and then proceeded to get on the freeway, our deputy eventually stopped him on the 168 near the Shields exit – was able to take him into custody without any incident. Turns out that was not our shooter.” – Tony Botti, Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson.
Sheriff’s deputies booked 35 year old Rodolfo Valdivia (above) into the Fresno County Jail for evading an officer and having an outstanding arrest warrant.
Their suspect – ex-boyfriend Padilla – is still on the loose, and in violation of his restraining order.
Jose Padilla (seen right) is described as being 5’9″, 290 lbs, and also goes by the name “Antonio.”
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Jose Padilla should call the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office dispatch center at (559) 600-3111 or Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-STOP (7687).
