DA expects charges in airman's death

CLOVIS — Last week's fatal shooting of a Cannon Air Force Base airman will likely result in some kind of criminal charges, District Attorney Andrea Reeb said on Wednesday.

Marcus Jimenez, 23, of Olton, Texas, died this week from injuries suffered at a Clovis residence on July 5, family members said. Police have not identified Jimenez by name, but said in a news release a 23-year-old man and another man had been "playing" with a firearm while consuming alcohol. The incident occurred at a Paseo Village residence in northeast Clovis. Police said they learned after a 911 call that a man had been shot in the head.

Jimenez was transported to Plains Regional Medical Center and then to a Texas hospital, where on Monday afternoon “he took his last breath,” said his mother, Mary Ann Hernandez Jimenez. Air Force officials said in a news release the airman in the July 5 shooting died on Tuesday. Jimenez's mother said, "They kept him alive because he was an organ donor, but he really passed ... Monday afternoon."

Jimenez grew up and finished high school in Olton, joined the Air Force in May 2017 and was stationed at Lackland and Sheppard Air Force bases before coming to Cannon in November, his mother told The News.

Mary Ann Hernandez Jimenez said she was brushing her teeth the morning of July 5 when she saw a news bulletin about the shooting incident involving airmen then-unnamed.

“I said, ‘I hope that whoever that was, I hope that he’s OK.’ That’s what I thought, without even thinking that that was mine,” she said. “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, because I know the pain I’m going through — the pain that the (person) who did this to my son is sitting in jail and my son is dead.”

Officials have said no charges have been filed in connection with the case, but Reeb said Wednesday the man she believes shot Jimenez was “in pretrial confinement" in custody at Cannon.

Base officials said “an ongoing investigation by civilian law enforcement” is in progress.

Reeb said in a text message to The News: “I am still waiting on some additional forensics in the investigation prior to filing any charges. However, I do believe criminal charges will be forthcoming.”

Reeb said she would know more as to possible charges soon, but that no decision has been made about whether her office or the military might prosecute the case.