Police: Witness reveals evidence in Española shooting
A cooperating witness led police last month to a bag of bullet casings purportedly from the suspect vehicle in the 2018 fatal highway shooting of an Española teen, according to a newly filed search warrant affidavit.
Cameron Martinez, 18, was killed and three of his passengers were injured during the October shooting on N.M. 68 near the Ohkay Hotel Casino. Police have said the shooting appeared to have been a case of mistaken identity prompted by threats on social media.
Savannah Martinez, no relation to the victim, had been a passenger in the other vehicle.
The three alleged shooters in that
vehicle — Mark Timothy Hice, 23; Anton Martinez, 19, also no relation to the victim; and Axel Zamarron, 18 — as well as the driver, Brittany Garcia, 21, are facing first-degree murder charges.
Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin Sept. 30.
Savannah Martinez, 24, of Ohkay Owingeh, pleaded guilty in May to evidence tampering in connection with the killing. Part of her agreement was to cooperate with the prosecution of the four codefendants in return for a sentence of three years’ probation.
A search warrant affidavit filed by a New Mexico State Police agent Aug. 1 in First Judicial District Court said Savannah Martinez had taken a black plastic trash bag with bullet casings retrieved from the vehicle after the shooting from Garcia’s home and thrown it off a bridge on the outskirts of El Rito.
Following an April phone conversation with the prosecutor, Martinez and her attorney, the agent searched a bridge on N.M. 554 and found nothing, the affidavit said. The agent then met in person with the three in July, and Martinez informed him it had been a different bridge.
A week later, the agent drove Martinez to the area, and she pointed out a bridge on N.M. 111, and a tree in the creek at the bottom of the bridge, according to the affidavit.
The bag was found near the tree, and when the agent tried to pick it up, it tore open, the affidavit said.
The agent said he placed the contents in a paper evidence bag, and executed a search warrant on it July 23.
Inside, amid trash, were 10 live .45 caliber rounds, two spent 9 mm casings, and mail for Garcia and Hice, the search warrant said.
District Attorney Marco Serna, whose office is prosecuting the case, has previously said that the suspects in the case had been armed with a 9 mm and two .45-caliber handguns.