Suspect After Haverstraw Shooting Tracked On Social Media: UPDATE

HAVERSTRAW, NY — A man sought by Haverstraw police over the death of a Pomona resident July 1 in the village was taken into custody Saturday in Piedmont, South Carolina, Chief John Gould announced.

"As you can see this was a case with many moving parts that brought us over 700 miles from Haverstraw to South Carolina. This was truly a team effort amongst many agencies. Again, I would like to commend everyone involved," Gould said at a news conference attended by many involved with the investigation.

At 4 p.m. July 1 on West Street, Haverstraw patrol officers responded to the area of Fairmount Avenue and West Street on a report of shots fired. They found a vehicle crashed into a parked car opposite 9 Fairmount Ave. — and the driver with multiple gunshot wounds.

Haverstraw Ambulance and Rockland Paramedics responded as well. The victim was transported to Nyack Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was identified as Christian Alvarado, 29, of Pomona, NY.

Haverstraw detectives immediately began to canvas the area for witnesses and surveillance video which captured that incident and were able to quickly identify Yandie Martinez as the suspect, Gould said Monday at a news conference.

On July 2, police posted about the search on Facebook and included this warning: "This individual should be considered armed and dangerous."

Gould said multiple attempts were made by family and friends to have Martinez turn himself in. However, those attempts were unsuccessful.

"It was clear to us that Martinez was on the run and had no intention of surrendering," he said.

Police were able to track Martinez through a social media account he was using, which ultimately led them to an Airbnb he was hiding out in located in Piedmont, South Carolina.

Martinez was tracked down in a collaborative effort and taken into custody without incident by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Apprehension Special Investigations Team and assisted by FBI-Westchester Safe Streets Task Force and FBI-Columbia, SC Division.

"I would like to thank the members of the community who offered their support and for providing information throughout the investigation. Our leads took us to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and the Dominican Republic," Gould said.

Being able to run down those leads would have been impossible without the collaboration of the outside agencies, Gold said.

Martinez is currently being held in the Greenville County Correctional Facility in South Carolina where Monday he will be presented in Federal Court to answer a Federal UFAP warrant which stands for Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution, Gould said.

Gould said he expected Martinez would be remanded to the custody of the US Marshals with arrangements made to transport Martinez back to New York.

"At which point we will take Martinez into custody, and he will be arraigned on multiple charges including: Murder 2nd Degree and 2 Counts of Criminal Possession of a weapon amongst others," Gould said.

Gould recognized many who attended the news conference including Town of Haverstraw Deputy Supervisor Isidro Cancel, Councilman Vincent Gamboli, Councilman Johnny Oritz and Councilman Ralph Kirshkel; Town of Haverstraw Police Department Lieut. James Hansen, Detective Bureau: Sgt Steven Rosado, Sgt William Gould and Detectives Eric Ramos, Michael Cruger, Nick Armida, Edward Lopez, Raymond Lund and John Wamsley; Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh with Chief Assistant District Attorney Patrick Frawley, Chief of Detectives Dierdre Smith, First Assistant District Attorney Doreen Lloyd and Senior ADA Emily McNiff; Rockland County Sheriff’s Department Captain Jim Benison and Lieutenant Chris Ford; Town of Stony Point Chief Gregg Becker; Town of Clarkstown Captain Glenn Cummings; FBI-NY Westchester Safe Streets Task Force Special Agent Justin Grey; SSA John Sullivan; NYPD Intel- Carrie Rielly.

He also thanked the Westchester County Police Department Aviation and Real Time Crime Center; City of New Rochelle Police Department; NY State Police; Greenville Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Apprehension Special Investigations Team; FBI-Columbia, SC Division; South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Homeland Security; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Rockland County Medical Examiner’s Office; Haverstraw Ambulance and Rockland County Paramedics- Medic One.