Tai Chan Trial: Guests staying at hotel night of deadly shooting testify

Jurors heard from numerous guests inside the hotel the night police say a former Santa Fe deputy murdered his partner.

Tai Chan is on trial for allegedly shooting and killing Jeremy Martin in 2014. Police say the two got in a fight while in Las Cruces, where they were staying after dropping off a prisoner in Arizona.

Randy Hudson said he was staying at Hotel Encanto that night. He said he heard an explosive argument happening on the floor above him.

Hudson said he then heard gun shots in rapid succession.

“It was more of a boom boom boom boom boom,” Hudson said, “Multiple shots and then there was a boom boom boom.”

Another witness testified she heard a banging on her wall. When she eventually stepped outside her room, she says she saw a lot of blood.

“There was blood on the right wall, streaked. There was blood on the carpet on the floor. There was a hole in the door to the elevator farthest to the right from the front of the hotel,” Mary Hale said.

Investigators said Chan shot at Martin 10 times. Five of those shots struck Martin in the back. The defense argues Chan was protecting his own life.

Las Cruces Police officers arrived at the Hotel Encanto after receiving several 911 calls about shots being fired and a wounded man in the lobby. The wounded man turned out to be Martin.

Officers found Martin bleeding profusely and drove him to Memorial Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Chan was fired from his position with the Santa Fe sheriff’s office shortly after the shooting.