Police: Man shoots fiancée’s mother in leg
Woman loses limb after being hospitalized; suspect turns self in
Robert Rodriguez, 27, was handling a shotgun in a southwest Santa Fe apartment on Sunday night when the weapon accidentally discharged and blew a “gaping wound” in the leg of his fiancée’s mother, police documents say.
Police spokesman Greg Gurulé said Monday the woman later lost the limb after she was hospitalized.
Officers who responded to a report of gunfire at the apartment complex near Sweeney Elementary School on Airport Road reported that they found 45-year-old Renee Martinez unconscious, blood pooling at her feet.
Police applied a tourniquet to Martinez at the scene before paramedics took her to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.
Rodriguez was not at the apartment when officers arrived, but police said he turned himself in Monday afternoon. Police arrested him on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, negligent use of a deadly weapon, tampering with evidence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Gurulé said that before the shooting incident Rodriguez may have been in a discussion with some men outside the apartment, possibly in a dispute regarding his girlfriend.
Witnesses in the apartment told police that Rodriguez was playing with the gun when he swung it down and it went off, shooting Martinez in the leg.
Afterward, Rodriguez asked his fiancée’s 14-year-old brother to hide the pump-action shotgun, a criminal complaint says. It says that Rodriguez’ fiancée, Lisa Marie Martinez, told her brother to lie about who had shot their mother, and gave Rodriguez keys to a red Ford truck so he could leave the scene.
Lisa Marie Martinez was arraigned Monday on charges including contributing to the delinquency of a minor, tampering with evidence and other counts related to the incident. According to a criminal complaint, she said she initially lied to police because she was afraid of what would happen to her fiancé, who was convicted of felony burglary in 2010.