Quay County Sun - Serving the High Plains

A Tucumcari man was arrested Wednesday on a warrant where he was accused of shooting another man four times with a BB gun and threatened to shoot a woman with it.

Nicholas Matthew Aragon, 26, was booked into the county jail on a complaint of burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery and larceny.

The burglary count is a third-degree felony that can lead to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The aggravated-assault count is a fourth-degree felony that can lead up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. The other two counts are misdemeanors.

In a complaint filed June 10 in Tucumcari Magistrate Court by Tucumcari patrolman Shaun Slate, he was sent to a home in the 200 block of South Choctaw Street to investigate an alleged assault that occurred the evening of June 8.

Slate stated he met with the male victim who said he had Aragon, a neighbor, and a woman at his home to “hang out and drink.” They stayed about seven hours. The victim said Aragon had a pump-action BB rifle.

In the back yard about five feet from the victim, Aragon shot him four times in the left abdomen with the BB rifle.

“All four marks were the approximate size of a BB and (they) appeared fresh due to redness and wet blood,” Slate wrote.

After being shot, the victim told Aragon to give him the rifle, and he refused. Aragon then asked the woman to go home with him, and she refused. This angered Aragon, Slate stated, and said he was “going to shoot her in the head.” Aragon left a short time later with the rifle.

The victim walked the woman back to her home. He said Aragon returned to his home to stole a vape valued at nearly $60. He provided an officer a photograph of the vape and its receipt. The victim said he was at the woman’s house about five minutes and saw Aragon walk out of his house and leave in his truck.

The officer talked to the woman, who provided a similar story. Slate asked why Aragon became angry at her, and “she said she did not know. She said he just acted crazy.”

Tucumcari Magistrate Judge Timothy O’Quinn issued an arrest warrant June 10 for Aragon after receiving an affidavit from Slate. According to Quay County Detention Center records, Aragon was booked into the jail Wednesday morning.

No lawyer was listed for Aragon in online court records.