New Years Day shooting becomes first homicide of 2023 for Clovis

CLOVIS -- A man shot on New Year's night has died, officials confirmed Monday.

Police said Oscar Trujillo, 28, was shot in the head about 9:30 p.m. Sunday; police found him in the road in the 2100 block of Northglen after responding to a report of "4-5 gunshots" in the area.

Michael Downs, 30, was among those who called police to report the shooting. Downs said he acted in self-defense, but authorities charged him with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

District Attorney Quentin Ray said Monday night that charge will be amended to an open count of murder since Trujillo has died.

Trujillo was initially taken to Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis, but soon transferred to a hospital in Lubbock where he died.

Downs was being held in the Curry County Adult Detention Center without bond, Ray said. He was expected to be arraigned Tuesday.

Court records show Trujillo was driving a vehicle that contained three other people who had driven to the Northglen and Wilmington area to meet up with Downs, who, according to court records, believed he would be meeting with someone he had been conversing with on social media.

Trujillo and two others in the car were pretending to be a 14-year-old girl the group believed that Downs had been conversing with via the social media app Snapchat, records show. Downs told investigators he believed the person he was communicating with was in her 20s.

Downs told investigators as he was walking on Northglen a vehicle passed him and stopped. Three people got out of the vehicle and started walking toward him.

Court records state Downs was carrying a concealed pistol. He pulled it out of his waistband and fired three shots at the subjects.

The region's Major Crimes Unit has been activated to conduct an investigation.