Ex-Las Vegas detective, sheriff candidate Gordon Martines dies
Former Las Vegas police Detective Gordon Martines, who ran unsuccessfully for Clark County sheriff last year, has died at the age of 68.
Martines, who was employed by the Metropolitan Police Department for more than three decades, was the third candidate to announce a run for sheriff in 2018, joining incumbent Joe Lombardo and former North Las Vegas police officer Tim Bedwell.
AJ Maimbourg, his campaign manager, said Martines was found dead in his Las Vegas home on Tuesday after a welfare check was conducted. She said several of his friends had not heard from him for a few days.
Maimbourg said Martines suffered from chronic heart issues and diabetes. His cause and manner of death were pending Friday with the Clark County coroner’s office.
Martines’ campaign was known for its criticisms of Lombardo, who won the race, and his department’s response to the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting on Oct. 1, 2017.
Maimbourg said that although the public focused its attention on Martines’ criticisms, her longtime friend was “the epitome of integrity and honesty.”
The two met in 2011, when Martines approached Maimbourg and asked her to run his campaign for sheriff. He ran unsuccessfully in 2002, 2010 and 2014, and filed for candidacy in 2006 but later withdrew, county filing records indicate.
Maimbourg said it wasn’t until his 2014 bid that she agreed to run his campaign.
“I wanted to make sure he was a candidate that I would be proud to represent,” she said. “And he exceeded my expectations above and beyond. I would have trusted Gordon with my life.”
Martines joined Metro in June 1978 and left the department in February 2014. He sued Metro unsuccessfully in 2012, citing discrimination based on his race and age.
Martines, who Maimburg said lived a private life, leaves behind his adult son, Bryce, and a “select number of close friends who were there for him through thick and thin.”
Attempts to reach Bryce Martines on Friday were unsuccessful.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
