A 22-year-old El Rito man died of a gunshot wound just a few minutes after reporting a woman was attempting to carjack him. However, State Police believe the wound was self-inflicted.
A call from Max Martinez’s GMC truck to the vehicle communication system OnStar was relayed June 26 at 1:03 a.m. to State Police dispatch. The male caller said a woman was trying to steal his vehicle, according to State Police Capt. Daniel Lovato and dispatch logs.
Officers were dispatched to the area where OnStar pinpointed the car, near the intersection of State Road 74 and Highway 84/285 in El Duende, but couldn’t find it.
At an unidentified time, dispatch received another call relayed by Onstar from Martinez’s car. This call came from a female who reported Martinez shot himself. At 1:40 a.m., a second call from the same female reported that Martinez no longer had a pulse.
Officers arriving at mile marker 342 on Highway 285 — about 15 miles north of the Rio Chama Chevron — discovered Martinez lying on the side of the road next to the driver side of his car, dead from a gunshot wound to the head, Sgt. Chris Valdez said. Martinez’s girlfriend, April Lucero, was also at the scene. Dispatch logs indicate she was the woman who made the calls.
“She was real emotional,” State Police criminal agent Joey Gallegos said. “We couldn’t get much out of her.”
Valdez said Lucero told police the couple had a few drinks, an argument ensued and Martinez shot himself. Lucero said she knew Martinez had called OnStar once before the shooting, Valdez said. Valdez wouldn’t elaborate on what else Lucero said about that emergency call. A police report on the incident has yet to be completed.
Police found a .45 caliber handgun in the truck that they believe was used in the shooting. Valdez said Martinez probably fell out of the truck when Lucero opened the driver door after the shooting.
Numerous unopened beer cans were found in bushes at the scene, in an apparent attempt by Lucero to conceal them from police, agent Joe Schiel said.
Valdez said there were no signs of foul play, and he would not confirm that OnStar had relayed the carjacking report. Police will serve OnStar with an administrative subpoena to get the exact details of those calls, Gallegos said. Valdez also refused to release the location of Martinez’s gunshot wound, other than to say he was shot in the head.
Lucero’s only past criminal conviction was a guilty plea for being a minor in possession of alcohol in 2005. Martinez has no criminal record, according to an online court records database.
Martinez’s family remembers him as a gregarious man with a good sense of humor who loved hunting deer and elk, according to Martinez’s brother-in-law, Jason Duda. Martinez and Lucero were dating for one or two years.
Duda said the family believes Martinez shot himself accidentally. Lucero told him she didn’t remember what happened, he said.
“I think she doesn’t want to say,” Duda said.