2015-01-16 Double Homicide

Double Homicide – Southeast 13th Avenue Shooting

A double homicide occurred on Friday night in the 500 block of Southeast 13th Avenue in downtown Amarillo, Texas. Two victims were identified as Joe Angel Martinez Jr., 38, and Monica Barrientos, 29.

Incident

Police were dispatched to the area at approximately 11:45 p.m. after neighbors reported hearing a woman screaming and shots fired. This was the first homicide case being investigated by the Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit that year.^[1]

Neighbor Jonathan Edgar, who had lived across the street from the shooting location for several years, said he and his family first heard screaming and then several shots. When he went outside, he saw a man with a few small children leaving the blue house across the street and the flashing lights of police cars as officers arrived. The man told him there had been a shooting and to get back in the house for his own safety. Edgar grabbed his wife and child and went to a safe part of their house.

"It made me sick to my stomach," Edgar said.

Another neighbor, Eric Ortiz, said he also heard the screaming and shots coming from across the street. He called police and then walked out to his front porch as officers began arriving.

"They were running down the street with rifles," he said. "It sounded like a war zone."

Police Response

The first police officer who arrived on the scene saw a man, later identified as Martinez, who appeared to be armed with a pistol, said Lt. Erick Bohannon, coordinator of the Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit. The officer said Martinez pointed something at him and then disappeared behind vehicles in a neighbor's driveway. The officer then heard a gunshot from the area where Martinez was last seen.

Martinez was found dead with a gunshot wound to his upper body. Officers then followed up on the screaming neighbors had described coming from inside the house and found Barrientos, dead from what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the upper body.

Investigation

Police worked until mid-morning Saturday to gather details about the shooting. No information about a motive, other people involved, or if anyone else was injured was available Saturday. Calls to detectives at the Amarillo Police Department were not answered.

This was the first homicide case being investigated by the Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit that year. On January 4, Christopher Jennings, 39, was killed in a shooting at 6701 Lair Road, south of Amarillo. The Randall County Sheriff's Office was investigating that shooting.

The last double homicide in Amarillo occurred the previous year on June 7. Phetkeo Phetkeo, 52, and his wife, Phonsavahn Phetsavahn, 45, were killed in an apparent double homicide at their home at 1216 Jasmine St. in north Amarillo. Nga Lone Aung, 38, was taken into custody on June 19 by Liberal Police Department officers during a traffic stop in Liberal, Kansas. Lone was charged with the two murders and remained in Potter County jail on a $1 million bond.

Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call Special Crimes at 806-378-9468.

Images