An El Rito man was readmitted to a hospital last week to have a bullet removed from his scalp after being shot Jan. 10 by the Ohkay Owingeh Tribal Police.
Antonio Trujillo, 22, was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque where he was initially released Jan. 12, despite sustaining wounds to the head, back, hand and shoulder, according to his aunt Evelyn Martinez.
“We wondered why in the world were they letting him out?” Martinez said.
She said Trujillo continued to be very ill and was readmitted last week to the same hospital to remove a large bullet fragment from what she described as, “the skin on his skull.”
Trujillo’s family has contracted with Albuquerque criminal defense and civil rights attorney Mark Fine. Fine visited Trujillo Jan. 15 at the University of New Mexico Hospital.
“He was having horrible headaches,” Fine said. “One bullet was removed from the area between the scalp and skull.”
Those wounds were acquired during an incident with police in El Guique. According to statements made last week by Ohkay Owingeh Police Chief Donovan Trujillo, Antonio Trujillo, along with Everly Gutierrez, of Santa Clara Pueblo, were parked on a baseball field off State Road 74 in Ohkay Owingeh around 1 a.m. when tribal officers approached them.
Antonio Trujillo and Gutierrez then drove off with tribal police in pursuit, until they were cornered on a dead-end road in El Guique, according to Chief Trujillo’s version of events. Then Antonio Trujillo allegedly turned around his truck and drove toward a police officer who had stepped out of his car when the officer opened fired on the couple. Antonio Trujillo was shot in the head and Gutierrez was shot in the left leg, according to 911 dispatch logs.
Antonio Trujillo’s family disputes the chief’s record of events and claims that more than one tribal officer started shooting at the couple while still in pursuit. His aunt, Evelyn Martinez, alleges that Antonio Trujllo pulled off onto the side road because he was badly wounded and would have been unable to turn around his truck and attempt to run over an officer.
Chief Trujillo has still not released the name or names of the officer or officers involved in the Jan. 10 shooting. He did not respond to several requests for an interview.
Martinez referred requests to speak to Antonio Trujillo, who remains recuperating at home, to their attorney. At press time, no charges have been filed against either member of the couple.
After being treated at St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, Gutierrez’s mother said her daughter remains recuperating at home. Everly Gutierrez did not return calls for comment.
Neither Antonio Trujillo nor his family has initiated a lawsuit but Fine said he has spoken to additional witnesses in the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and said that legal action was pending.
“I do anticipate there will be a civil case at this point,” Fine said.
Max Pickney, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, said his agency is still investigating the incident but could not release further details. The FBI is also investigating the matter but calls to the Albuquerque bureau were left unreturned.