On October 29, 2023, 31-year-old Jose Gerardo Morales Zavala was fatally shot at Las Alazanas, a bar located in the 2800 block of Amarillo Boulevard East in Amarillo, Texas. The incident occurred around 10:20 p.m., when officers from the Amarillo Police Department responded to reports of a shooting and found Zavala deceased on the bar floor.
Investigations revealed that Zavala had been involved in an altercation with 18-year-old Daniel Martinez earlier that evening.
According to court documents and surveillance footage, Martinez left the bar following the dispute but returned shortly thereafter and shot Zavala. A witness acquainted with Martinez corroborated the sequence of events, aligning with the surveillance evidence.
Following the shooting, Martinez fled to his residence. The Amarillo Police Department's SWAT team apprehended him after a brief standoff, arresting him without further incident. Martinez was subsequently charged with murder and booked into the Potter County Detention Center, with bond set at $400,000.
At the time of the incident, Martinez was on probation for an aggravated robbery conviction from November 2022, where he had restrained a victim using zip ties and possessed a firearm. He had pleaded guilty to that charge in March 2023. A Potter County Grand Jury later indicted Martinez for the murder of Zavala. As of the latest reports, he remains in custody, and the investigation is ongoing.
