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A Hayward man now facing a murder charge in a separate case was recently identified as the prime suspect in an attempted carjacking that took place almost six months ago near downtown Pleasanton — thanks to DNA evidence collected at the scene, police told the Weekly.
On April 27, Pleasanton PD officers responded to the area of 300 Neal St. after receiving reports of an attempted carjacking. The Weekly previously spoke with the victim, Keith Bailey, whose family experienced issues with getting in touch with 911 while the criminal was outside their home.
As the Bailey family waited for the cops to arrive, the would-be carjacker had left the scene.
But during the course of the investigation, Lt. Nicholas Albert told the Weekly that Pleasanton police detectives were able to locate DNA evidence from the scene that later identified Hayward resident Andres Sanchez, 38, as the prime suspect.
And as it turns out, the incident in Pleasanton was far from the most serious allegedly involving Sanchez during that timeframe. “Sanchez is currently in custody on unrelated charges from another jurisdiction and poses no current danger to the community,” Albert said.
According to a May 3 press release from the Hayward Police Department, Sanchez had been arrested on April 30 in connection to a homicide that took place in that city on April 26 — the day before the attempted carjacking in Pleasanton.
The press release stated that on April 26, witnesses reported to men arguing in Hayward before one of them grabbed a gun and shot the other. Hayward police weren’t called until April 28.
During their investigation, Hayward police identified Sanchez as a person of interest and alleged he had already had several outstanding felony warrants. Officers then located Sanchez, who led police on a chase before he barricaded himself inside a random person’s garage, according to the department.
Police were able to get him to peacefully surrender and Sanchez has since been held in custody at Santa Rita Jail on several charges including his outstanding warrants, felony evasion, home invasion robbery and murder, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Inmate Locator.
Hayward police stated that the body from the April 26 homicide was later discovered on April 30.
The inmate locator also shows that on Sept. 18, Sanchez was placed under arrest by Dublin police for felony charges including assault with a semiautomatic firearm, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and second-degree robbery.
Pleasanton police put in for its attempted carjacking charge against Sanchez on Oct. 9, and Albert said the case is currently being reviewed by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
Bailey told the Weekly that while PPD let him know they identified someone for the attempted carjacking, he definitely did not know about everything else Sanchez was accused of doing.
“I’m in shock,” he said. “I had no idea.”
Bailey also said that while he still believes the incident at his home was a fluke and that he still feels safe in Pleasanton, it was disturbing to find out Sanchez is accused of murdering someone the day before running into Bailey.
“It does, obviously, very much disturb me to learn that this guy just murdered somebody, evidently, the day before I came in contact with him,” Bailey said. “I could have been that guy who got murdered as well.”
