911 calls released from deputy shooting in Las Cruces
The Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy accused of killing a fellow officer has been officially charged with an open count of murder and is behind bars.
The Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Center was flooded with calls when people staying at the Hotel Encanto in Las Cruces, New Mexico, heard shots ring out early Tuesday morning. When officers arrived they found 29-year-old Santa Fe County Deputy Jeremy Martin on the ground near the lobby elevator doors, suffering from gunshot wounds to his back and arm.
Las Cruces Police Department spokesman Dan Trujillo said Martin and 27-year-old Tai Chan were traveling back home after dropping off a prisoner in Safford, Arizona. Monday evening they checked into the Hotel Encanto on Telshor Boulevard before drinking at several establishments. Investigators said the deputies got into an argument, which continued inside the room they were sharing. That is when the 911 calls started flooding in.
“There was someone, sounded like a female voice, screaming and then there was … um … a male voice saying ‘call the police’ and there was shots fired,” one man told a dispatcher.
“There was gunshots on the seventh floor and there’s a dead guy. I think he’s shot. He’s in the lobby right now,” another caller said.
Back in Santa Fe, Sheriff Robert Garcia held back tears while talking about the incident that rocked his agency.
“In my 34-year career, I would never think and hoped that I would never receive that kind of phone call,” Garcia said in the news conference. “I never thought it would be two from within my own agency.”
LCPD said Chan likely shot Martin with a glock semi-automatic handgun found at the crime scene. Chan did not resist arrest. He was booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center without bond.
ABC-7 was able to determine that Chan and Martin were Facebook friends. Martin and his wife recently discovered they are expecting a fourth child. The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office has asked for prayers to help them during this tough time.
