Man accused of 2 Bay Area mass shootings remains jailed after preliminary hearing in Santa Cruz

A Richmond man wanted in connection with an Oakland homicide and San Francisco mass shooting was held to answer Thursday on local felony weapons charges after he allegedly fled police early this month.

SANTA CRUZ — A man wanted in connection with an Oakland homicide and San Francisco mass shooting was held to answer Thursday on local felony weapons charges after he allegedly fled police early this month.

Javier Campos, 22, of Richmond, trailed an increasing parade of mostly unmarked law enforcement vehicles June 14 as he reportedly drove a white Ford Escape through Watsonville and north on Highway 1, according to police allegations. During a brief preliminary hearing before Judge Gary Paden, California Highway Patrol officer George Vieira testified that he had to maneuver around numerous undercover vehicles with their lights and sirens on, in order to take over the highway pursuit.

Vieira said his portion of the pursuit lasted for about six minutes, for an estimated seven miles at speeds reaching as high as 88 mph, until a spike strip laid across the highway forced Campos to roll to a stop near the Morrissey Boulevard exit. Campos, he said, then was taken into custody without resistance. He was reportedly out on bail for a multi-count felony case in Alameda County at the time.

Vieira and another witness, Kyle Score — a Santa Cruz Police Department member of the Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team — each testified to seeing Campos throw an object out the window of his car during the pursuit. Vieira said he saw a “dark object” thrown, later determined by other officers to be a loaded handgun. Score said task force members initially located Campos, wanted on warrants out of Alameda and San Mateo counties, parked on San Benito Street, after receiving a tip from the San Francisco Police Department that Campos’ cellphone had been tracked to the area. He testified to seeing Campos throw out both a handgun and what was later determined to be a loaded magazine for a semi-automatic weapon.

After Thursday’s hearing, Campos remained held without bail in Santa Cruz County Jail, charged with unlawful ownership of a semi-automatic handgun and ammunition. The handgun, a so-called ghost gun, was loaded, unregistered and had no serial number, per a third felony charge.

Beyond naming him as a “person of interest” in their investigation, San Francisco police had not yet filed formal charges against Campos, meaning the Santa Cruz County case will continue to play out and potentially head to trial. Oakland police have issued an arrest warrant for Campos on charges of assault. Five individuals were shot and one killed — Mario Navarro-Navarro, 18 — during the Jan. 23 shooting in Oakland. On June 9, nine people were injured during a shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Campos is due to return to court for arraignment information during a July 12 hearing.

Bay Area Newsgroup staff writers Harry Harris and Nate Gartrell contributed to this report.