Police have arrested two men believed to be responsible for the shooting of a Mountain View mother in a Sunnyvale mobile home park in January.
The shooting occurred at Plaza Del Rey, a prefabricated mobile home park at 1225 Vienna Drive in Sunnyvale, at 9:39 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 7, according to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.
The victim was Kembery Chirinos-Flores, a 24-year-old resident of Mountain View.
In a press release from March 9, police said Chirinos-Flores was found inside a vehicle with gunshot wounds and pronounced dead at the scene. The suspects fled the scene before the arrival of officers.
Alfonso Inestroza, who also uses the name Franquin Inestroza-Martinez, of Hollister, and Gerzon Chirinos, who also uses the name Gerzon Chirinos-Munguia, of Sunnyvale, were arrested on March 5 in separate operations.
“These arrests represent an important step toward justice for Kembery and her family,” said Sunnyvale Chief of Public Safety Dan Pistor. “I want to commend our detectives for their relentless work and dedication in this investigation. The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety will never stop pursuing justice for victims of violent crime in our community, and we remain committed to holding offenders fully accountable.”
Dzanh Le, Captain of the Bureau of Special Operations, said in an email Inestroza was arrested at a home on Hemlock Court in Hollister at approximately 10:30 a.m. Chirinos was arrested at the Sunnyvale Public Safety Headquarters, at 700 All America Way, in the evening.
A shotgun was located during the arrests which is believed to be the murder weapon. Both men were booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of homicide. Inestroza also had an outstanding arrest warrant for an unrelated murder case in New Jersey.
The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety held a press conference related to the arrests on Mar. 9.
Pistor said Chirinos-Flores is survived by her 5-year-old son. Gerzon Chirinos and Chirinos-Flores were previously in a dating relationship and he was the father of the child, Pistor said.
“She was in the prime of her life,” Pistor said of Chirinos-Flores at the press conference. “This is a tragic, senseless act of violence that is fortunately extremely rare in our city.”
Pistor added that Gerzon Chirinos had a 2018 domestic abuse arrest related to a different victim.
There was no ongoing threat to public safety, he said. The child is in the custody of county child protective services and was unharmed.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, the Santa Clara County Special Enforcement Team, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Hollister Police Department, the San Benito County Criminal Apprehension Suppression and Prevention Response Unit and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office contributed to the investigation and arrests.
