Hanford Police Chief Carlos Mestas said, "This guy was on running crime spree. Our biggest fear was that somebody was, some officer was going to stop him, some unbeknownst to this officer who he was and there would be a confrontation."
Hanford investigators say 35-year-old /*Jason Reyes*/ had been selling drugs in Northern California, when he shot and killed a man in Hayward on February 13th. Police uncovered the connection as they investigated the Hanford murder of 32-year-old /*Armando Ramirez*/.
Ramirez was gunned down March 5th as he walked into the drugstore with his 8-year-old daughter.
Action News has learned Jason Reyes was released from prison last November, after serving more than eight years for voluntary manslaughter. Hanford Police Chief Carlos Mestas says Reyes never reported to Ventura County probation officers and instead resumed his life of crime. Even locked up, Reyes had a bad reputation.
"He was a lot of time in administration segregation and also in the special housing unit," said Chief Mestas. "So he was not a happy camper or a good guy even inside the prison walls."
Hanford and Hayward detectives say Reyes logged plenty of miles during his violent travels through the state. He was arrested Christmas Eve in Alameda County for felony evading and possession of methamphetamine. But bailed out December 26th.
Weeks later, investigators say Reyes committed the Hayward homicide where he also fired at two witnesses but missed. Then a few weeks later, police say Reyes tracked down a person who witnessed the murder and shot and injured him.
Police say his final crime was in his hometown of Ventura. Investigators say Reyes committed a home invasion robbery just days before SWAT officers surrounded an apartment complex in Ventura and took him into custody.
