Gunfire erupted before dawn near an East Palo Alto high school, wounding a resident, striking two parked cars and an occupied home, and setting off a chase that ended with a crashed getaway vehicle and a firearm left behind at the scene. Police arrested a 22-year-old man and two teenagers in connection with the shooting.
According to SFGATE, a ShotSpotter sensor detected gunfire shortly before 6 a.m. in the 900 block of Garden Street. The rounds struck two parked vehicles and an occupied residence, and police said an East Palo Alto resident suffered a gunshot wound that was not considered life-threatening.
Responding officers reported seeing several vehicles leaving the area, the outlet's report states. One of those vehicles reversed at high speed into a parked car while fleeing and then struck a police cruiser as it tried to escape, according to the same account.
Chase Ends in a Pile of Wrecked Cars on Pulgas Avenue
Officers pursued the fleeing vehicle to the 2100 block of Pulgas Avenue, where it struck multiple parked cars and became disabled, per SFGATE's report. Its occupants then ran off on foot, leaving behind a firearm at the scene, the report notes.
Police arrested Hayden Hernandez along with two teenage suspects, ages 15 and 17, who were identified as being from Hollister, the article states. Hernandez was booked into San Mateo County Jail on multiple felony charges, while the teenagers were released to their guardians after San Mateo County juvenile hall declined to accept them for booking, SFGATE reported.
A City That Just Logged a Rare Milestone
The shooting lands in a city that had just closed out a notable stretch of calm. East Palo Alto finished 2025 with zero homicides, according to CBS San Francisco, marking the second time in three years the city hit that mark after also reaching it in 2023. CBS reported that the city's most recent homicide before that stretch came in April 2024, a steep drop from 1992, when East Palo Alto recorded 42 homicides in a city of roughly 24,000 residents.
That zero-homicide record does not speak to non-fatal shootings. In February 2025, officers responded to a shooting on the 2200 block of Pulgas Avenue in which an adult male victim suffered a single gunshot wound that did not appear life-threatening, according to a City of East Palo Alto Police Department press release.
Another Chase Stretched From East Palo Alto to Stockton
In a separate case this past May, officers responded to a ShotSpotter activation in the 2300 block of Clarke Avenue at about 3:40 p.m., the East Palo Alto Police Department said in a statement. Both victims in that shooting were listed in stable condition, and investigators used Flock Safety cameras to identify the vehicles involved, tracking a suspect vehicle as it left the city and traveled through Hayward and Tracy before reaching Stockton.
The shooting near Garden Street remains under investigation. Police have asked anyone with information to contact Detective Ng at 650-853-3160 or [email protected].
