Tucumcari man charged in shooting

A Tucumcari man remained in the county jail after being accused of shooting another local man at the Quay Apartments last week.

George J. Olguin, 61, was booked into the Quay County Correctional Center on felony charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon (great bodily harm), tampering with evidence, trafficking controlled substances and receiving stolen property. Olguin also was listed as George Holguin in the criminal complaint.

The drug trafficking count, the most serious, is a second-degree felony that can lead up to nine years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, said Magistrate Judge Noreen Hendrickson during Olguin's first court appearance.

Olguin is accused of shooting Joshua Neal of Tucumcari in the abdomen, according to the criminal complaint.

Tucumcari Police Chief Patti Lopez did not have an update on Neal's condition on Thursday. District Attorney Timothy Rose declined to give information Friday on Neal's condition, citing medical privacy laws.

According to a criminal complaint, Tucumcari police officers were called to the Quay Apartments about 5 a.m. Wednesday to respond to a report of residents yelling and a possible shooting.

Officers found Neal lying on the sidewalk near a parking lot of one of the apartment buildings. Neal said he had been shot in the stomach and was in pain. He identified the shooter as "George Holguin."

As EMS workers treated Neal at the scene, officers approached the entryway of one of the apartments and saw the door was partly open. One of the officers stated in the complaint he knew Olguin lived in the apartment.

An officer pushed the door open and found Olguin standing inside the doorway. Olguin was placed in handcuffs, taken to a police vehicle and checked for weapons. Other officers conducted a sweep of the residence and began to prepare a search warrant.

Neal told one of the officers he had gone to Olguin's apartment to find his girlfriend, who had been there for several hours. When Neal arrived, he knocked on the door repeatedly.

Neal said he was met by Olguin, who held a baseball bat in one hand and a .22-caliber pistol in the other. Neal said when he saw the gun, he began to run. Once he was outside of the building, Neal said he noticed he'd been shot in the stomach. Neal said he was positive it was Olguin who shot him.

In the squad car, Olguin said Neal had come to his apartment and beat on his windows and door. Olguin said he opened the door, was confronted by Neal about his girlfriend and was hit by a pipe on his right elbow. Olguin said he fell to the floor, got back up, pushed Neal out of his apartment, shut the door and locked it. Olguin said he had no knowledge of Neal being shot and that he possessed only an old shotgun.

While executing a search warrant of Olguin's apartment, an officer found a clear plastic tube with 150 pills identified as fentanyl. Another officer also found coins as being from a burglary.

During Olguin's first appearance Friday in magistrate court, Assistant District Attorney Heidi Adams said she wanted him held without bond for at least 24 hours and would file a motion to keep Olguin detained before trial.

In an expedited motion for pretrial detention filed later Friday, Adams wrote the district attorney's office wanted Olguin to stay jailed, saying "no release condition imposed on the Defendant will reasonably protect the safety of any other person or the community."

Adams' motion cited Olguin's criminal history that included convictions for drug trafficking, battery and drunken driving, charges of violating a restraining order and possessing narcotics and a history of violating court orders.

"Further, guns and drugs do not mix," Adams wrote, adding Olguin should not have possessed a firearm because he is a felon.

District Judge Albert Mitchell Jr. was scheduled to hear the motion and hold a preliminary hearing on Olguin's case on Tuesday.

During Friday's hearing, Olguin appeared by videoconference from the county jail. He said "I didn't do it" before being interrupted by Hendrickson, saying he shouldn't talk until he conferred with a defense attorney.

Public defender Anna Aragon of Las Vegas was assigned as Olguin's attorney in the case.