– By F. Scott Faulkner
SANTA MARIA, CA — January 4, 2026
The New Year got off to a bang in Santa Maria when officers responded to reports of a fight and possible gunfire in a residential area.
Police were dispatched around 6:37 p.m. New Year’s Day after a caller to 911 Emergency Services reported seeing “two individuals engaged in a physical
altercation.”
The witness told responding officers at the scene that the confrontation escalated
quickly, followed by “the sound of breaking glass and what were believed to be gunshots.”
Officers promptly began canvassing the area and soon located an apartment with two shattered
windows, “suggesting gunfire had penetrated the residence.”
Officers attempted several times to contact anyone inside but initially received no response.
No injured victims were found inside, but multiple spent shell casings as well as live ammunition
were found within the apartment, along with a .22-caliber firearm.
Officers identified Margarito Martinez de la Cruz, 31 as the shooting suspect.
He was taken into custody and transported to Santa Maria Northern Branch Jail,
where was booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm into an
inhabited dwelling, along with additional weapons-related offenses.
He remains in custody on a no-bail hold.
