This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A man shot to death by a Springville homeowner after breaking into the residence early Thursday during an apparent robbery attempt had a lengthy criminal record and was on probation for a retail theft conviction.
Armando Martinez Jr., 31, of Provo, had also burglarized another nearby home five days earlier, police confirmed Friday.
Springville police Lt. Dave Caron said Friday that investigators are "pretty confident" it was Martinez who burglarized the home located just four blocks from where he was shot.
Caron said that on Feb. 25, a man matching Martinez's description entered an occupied home in the daytime and stole a handgun and a cellphone. Neither item has been recovered.
But police didn't locate Martinez — who had previously told police he was homeless or had lived in various cities along the Wasatch Front — before he struck again.
Martinez was fatally shot after he entered a duplex near 800 South and 475 East and awakened a couple at 2:45 a.m. Thursday.
Martinez told the couple he had a stolen gun and demanded they get out of bed, get their wallets and take him to an ATM, police said.
But instead of getting his wallet, the husband grabbed a gun and shot Martinez once in the chest, killing him.
Court records indicate Martinez was a high school dropout who had a lengthy criminal history spanning 1998 to 2011.
Martinez was convicted of various charges of theft and shoplifting, attempted aggravated assault, criminal mischief and assault against a police officer, as well as drug counts.
In the most recent case, involving felony retail theft in 2011, Martinez's mental competency was questioned, but he was found competent and pleaded guilty in January 2012 to a reduced class A misdemeanor count of shoplifting.
According to court documents, Martinez had grabbed a DVD player from a shelf at a Sears store at Provo Towne Centre mall and tried to leave without paying in March 2011.
When two security officers confronted Martinez outside the store, he threw the DVD player at them and tried to flee. After he was caught and arrested, Martinez told the police he stole the player so he could trade it for money, according to court documents. The officer noted that Martinez had been convicted twice for theft.
Martinez was released from jail Feb. 9, 2012. As part of a 36-month probation, a 4th District Court judge ordered him to report for a work-diversion program two days a week until he became employed. Martinez also was ordered to obtain a mental health evaluation.
Police have said that footprints in the snow indicate Martinez tried 20 doors before finding the home he entered Thursday. He entered through a sliding glass door with a child lock near the top. Martinez disabled the child lock by pulling hard on the door, police said.
Caron said he does not anticipate any criminal charges against the homeowner who shot and killed Martinez.
"He did what he had to do to protect his family," Caron said. "It meets all the criteria of being justifiable."
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