Josh King, Clear Channel Radio IT director, vacuums broken glass where a man forced his way into the offices Tuesday. (Debbie Noda/The Modesto Bee)
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Police say Gustine man waved knives in studio
By Leslie Albrecht
lalbrecht@modbee.com
A knife-wielding man who said he was "tired of Modesto" smashed through glass doors and burst into the Modesto offices of Clear Channel radio Tuesday morning. No one was injured.
Police arrested a suspect, 26-year-old Dustin Martinez of Gustine. He was booked at Stanislaus County Jail on suspicion of brandishing a weapon and felony vandalism, said Modesto police spokesman Detective Steven Stanfield.
Martinez's stepsister, Kelly McAllister, said her stepbrother is a diagnosed schizophrenic who is usually kind and friendly.
"He's not just a common criminal," she said. "He's normally the one who would avoid an altercation, but right now he's sick because he hasn't been able to get his medication. I don't know why he snapped today. I just know he's sick. He needs help."
Tuesday's incident is the fourth time this year authorities have responded to violence involving a mentally ill person. In January, a Modesto police officer shot and killed a mentally ill man carrying a samurai sword in downtown. Less than a week later, police arrested a Modesto man suspected of killing his parents. Family members said he has a history of mental illness. On Feb. 16, a Riverbank man who relatives said struggled with mental problems was arrested in the stabbing deaths of three relatives.
McAllister said she's not sure why her stepbrother hasn't been taking his medication but thinks he could be struggling financially.
Clear Channel employees say the man armed with two knives didn't explain why he barged into their building.
"He just wasn't talking any sense," said Kara Franklyn, a disc jockey and news reporter who spoke to Martinez through a metal security door until police arrived. "He was angry at the world. Why he chose Clear Channel, I have no idea."
Police said Martinez used his knives to shatter the glass.
Martinez arrived at the Clear Channel building on Lancey Drive, home to six radio stations, about 7:30 a.m. About eight employees were there, mostly morning show announcers working in recording studios behind a locked metal security door.
Rock 96.7 FM announcer Joey Bueller was taking a break to meet his wife and 2-month-old daughter in the parking lot.
As Bueller, his wife and daughter made their way into the building and through a metal security door, they heard what they thought was a gunshot. It was Martinez, breaking through the building's glass front door, Bueller said. Martinez smashed through a second glass door between the lobby and the building's business offices, Bueller said. Bueller's wife called 911.
As the Metallica song "That Was Just Your Life" played, Bueller and other announcers crowded around the locked metal security door that separates the recording studios from the lobby. They watched Martinez through a tiny window in the door.
They said Martinez smashed a third glass door in the lobby. Then he marched through the piles of shattered glass, kicking the shards, Franklyn said.
"It was very tense," Bueller said. "I'd like to say that I was clear-minded, but with my 2-month-old daughter here, I wasn't able to focus very well."
Called a 'superhero'
Bueller called Sunny 102.3 FM news reporter Franklyn "the superhero of the day." She took a Taser, which she's licensed to carry, to the metal security door and talked to Martinez while waiting for police to arrive.
"Why are you here?" she asked Martinez.
"You f---ing know why I'm here," Franklyn said Martinez told her. "I'm mad. I've had it with Modesto. It's been seven years." Franklyn said she told Martinez she was holding a Taser. "Just shoot me," he replied.
Franklyn asked Martinez if he had any weapons. She said he showed her two knives, a black-handled hunting knife with a fixed seven-inch blade and a pocket-sized folding knife.
As she questioned Martinez, Franklyn talked to a police dispatcher on a cell phone. The dispatcher told her not to use the Taser and police would be there soon.
"It seemed like it was forever; it was probably two minutes," Franklyn said.
In a Clear Channel building next door, employees were listening to a police scanner for the morning traffic report. Sales manager Rick Myers heard a voice on the scanner say a man had broken into a Clear Channel building.
Myers headed next door.
He found Martinez seated at conference room table. Myers said Martinez told him, "Come on in." Myers declined.
Moments later police arrived. Officers told Martinez to drop his weapons, witnesses said. He refused. Officers used a Taser to subdue Martinez, then took him into custody.
Myers said he saw Martinez's white SUV in the Clear Channel parking lot. A "frowny face" was drawn in the vehicle's dusty rear window.
Bee staff writer Leslie Albrecht can be reached at lalbrecht@modbee.com or 578-2378.
The Modesto Bee
