In the early morning hours of September 19, 2020, a confrontation between neighbors in an apartment building on Taft Avenue in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, turned fatal. Jarvis Gladney, a 36-year-old Black male, was shot and killed during the altercation. The incident began after police were called to the building around 2:30 a.m. to de-escalate a confrontation involving an upset Gladney.
His girlfriend had called for assistance and decided to leave the apartment.
Later, at approximately 4:30 a.m., Ricardo Martinez-Mendez, a 27-year-old neighbor, encountered Gladney in the building's common hallway. An argument ensued between the two men. According to prosecutors, Martinez-Mendez told investigators that Gladney was saying very insulting things about him and his girlfriend. Martinez-Mendez claimed that he became angry, drew his gun, and after Gladney allegedly grabbed his neck, he pushed him away and shot him. Gladney was struck in the chest and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Following the shooting, Martinez-Mendez barricaded himself in his apartment, leading to a six-hour standoff with a SWAT team and negotiators. After several hours of communication over the phone, he surrendered to the police and was arrested. He was subsequently charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
The case went to trial in January 2021. The jury heard testimony from various witnesses, including Martinez-Mendez, who maintained that he had acted in self-defense. On January 26, 2021, a Winnebago County jury acquitted Ricardo Martinez-Mendez of the homicide charge, finding that his actions were justified as self-defense. The jury unanimously concluded that he was within his rights to use deadly force in that situation.
