The quiet communities of Greensboro and Colfax in Guilford County have been rocked by a shocking series of events, culminating in the arrest of one man now facing murder charges for two separate fatal shootings that occurred just one week apart. It’s a tragedy that has left many asking how a single individual could be connected to such devastation in so little time, shattering two families’ lives in the process.
The first incident happened in Greensboro on the evening of November 16th. It was around 7:48 p.m. when police were called out to a disturbance on Upland Drive. When officers arrived at the scene, they found 27-year-old Joaquin Gabriel Hernandez with a serious gunshot wound. Despite the quick response and rush to the hospital, Joaquin tragically passed away from his injuries. At the time, there was no suspect identified in what became Greensboro’s 33rd homicide of the year, leaving a difficult void for Joaquin’s loved ones and a lingering fear in the neighborhood.
Fast forward exactly one week to Sunday morning, November 23rd. Just after sunrise, at about 7:49 a.m., the scene of a new tragedy shifted to Colfax, a small town within Guilford County. Sheriff’s deputies responded to a shooting report on Boylston Road, where they discovered 47-year-old Derrick Lamont Leach deceased from a gunshot wound. This time, however, investigators were quickly able to identify a suspect: 27-year-old Jose Cristian Bravo-Martinez, who was reportedly driving a stolen vehicle when he was located.
The subsequent search for Bravo-Martinez didn’t last long, but it was dramatic. Around 10:16 a.m. that Sunday, deputies spotted him and attempted to pull over the stolen vehicle. Martinez allegedly refused to stop, leading law enforcement on a brief chase before he was finally apprehended and taken into custody. This capture immediately connected him to Derrick Leach’s death, but the full scope of the investigation was only just beginning to unfold.
Following the arrest, the charges mounted rapidly in connection with the Colfax shooting and the events surrounding his capture. Bravo-Martinez was slammed with multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, including felony first-degree murder for Derrick Leach’s death. The court documents painted a disturbing picture, claiming he had stolen the vehicle by threatening the owner with a semiautomatic pistol and also robbed four other people of their cell phones. Beyond the murder, his charges included two counts of felony robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a stolen vehicle, and felony fleeing and eluding arrest, among others.
Then came the truly shocking development: the potential link to the earlier Greensboro case. Late on that same Sunday evening, around 8:06 p.m., the Greensboro Police Department confirmed what investigators must have been working furiously to determine—Jose Cristian Bravo-Martinez was officially named as the suspect in the tragic homicide of Joaquin Hernandez. This breakthrough connected two fatal shootings a week apart, painting a terrifying pattern of violence across the county.
Bravo-Martinez is now being held at the detention center in High Point without the possibility of bond, awaiting his court date. The swift action of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office and the Greensboro Police Department, working together, has hopefully brought a measure of closure to the community and the families of Joaquin Gabriel Hernandez and Derrick Lamont Leach. While the legal process is only just starting, the arrest has put an alleged killer behind bars and stopped what appeared to be a deadly and escalating crime spree.
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