An Escondido family who said they fought for their lives this week with an armed intruder have shared their terrifying ordeal with NBC 7.
The registered sex offender, Jesse Martinez broke into their home on Camelia Street at 1:30 in the morning on Thursday while everyone was asleep, armed with a machete, according to Escondido police, who said he threatened the lives of the five people inside, including an infant.
One of the victims, who asked not to be identified, said Martinez “told me if I call 911, he will murder me and my family.”
"Yeah, I didn't know what to do at that point," the woman told NBC 7 later that night. She said the sound of her younger brother trying to fight off Martinez woke her from a dead sleep.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
“I felt really afraid, you know, afraid for my life, afraid for my family’s lives," she said. "I felt powerless."
The woman said Martinez entered the garage through a front door here, then proceeded to the back of the garage, where he broke a hinge on the door to get into the side yard, then walked to the back patio. From there he entered the home through a window, even though the woman's brother tried to stop him.
The brother said he then ran upstairs, dodging swings of the machete while he fled. Later that day, six hack marks from the machete were visible in the stairwell.
Local
“Here’s another one,” said Bradley Baker, the woman's boyfriend, pointing to one of the spots where the weapon struck.
“It’s crazy that somebody has the b---- to come into the house with a machete and try to kill people,” Baker said.
Eventually, during a struggle that must have been terrifying, the family managed to force the intruder back downstairs, which is where, the woman said, that one of the two men in the house stabbed Martinez in the neck with a kitchen knife. Eventually, the pair were able to hold Martinez down till police arrived.
“I am still processing everything, you know, just trying to get back to something normal," the woman told NBC 7 on Thursday night.
Three family members were hurt in the struggle, and Martinez was treated at the hospital for his neck wound. None of those injuries are life-threatening, police said
The woman told NBC 7 she could count on one thing: sleeping soundly later that evening
“He’s off the street, so I know he won’t be coming back here," she said.
Upon his release from medical care, Martinez — a registered sex offender serving a parole term, according to police — is expected to face charges of burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, making threats with intent to terrorize and attempted murder
