Rio Arriba County man serving sentence for murder claims guard assaulted him
Nov. 23—A Rio Arriba County man serving 20 years in prison for his roles in the high-profile fatal shooting of an Española Valley High School graduate and the rape of a teen girl alleges in a lawsuit he has been assaulted by a guard at the Penitentiary of New Mexico.
Axel Zamarron, 21, of Fairview was sentenced in October 2021 as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that settled charges in two cases tied to crimes he was accused of committing in 2018, when he was 17 years old.
One case alleged he had participated in the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl and posted a video of the assault on social media. He also was charged with murder in the shooting death of Cameron Martinez, an 18-year-old Alcalde resident. Police said Zamarron and others killed Martinez and wounded three of his friends in a tragic case of mistaken identity. The group opened fire on a vehicle Martinez was traveling in on N.M. 68 north of Española.
Zamarron says in his handwritten lawsuit, filed Monday in state District Court, corrections officer Sammy Oroz shot him in the stomach during a June incident at the prison south of Santa Fe.
He had been given permission from another guard to use a phone and warm up some food in a microwave and was about to do so when he heard a "a gun cock and be loaded," Zamarron wrote in the complaint.
"I glanced up and saw Corrections Officer Sammy Oroz to be pointing a 12 gauge shotgun towards my face," he wrote.
Oroz began shouting at him to get in his cell, Zamarron wrote. He tried to explain he had permission to be out of his cell, he wrote, but before he could finish, Oroz fired the shotgun, striking him in the abdomen.
The lawsuit does not specify what type of projectile he was struck with, but does not indicate his wound was life-threatening.
Zamarron is seeking an unspecified amount of damages in the lawsuit, which names the Penitentiary of New Mexico and Oroz as defendants.
Carmelina Hart, a spokeswoman for the New Mexico Corrections Department, declined to comment on the lawsuit. She provided a list of of less-lethal projectiles used by guards at prisons, including beanbags and rubber balls.
Oroz did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Zamarron's lawsuit says he was handcuffed and taken to medical staff to be examined after the incident and then placed in an alternative sanctions pod, where he was denied privileges such as phone calls and commissary.
A day later, Zamarron says in the suit, he requested medical treatment because his urine had an abnormal color. He alleges he wasn't taken to see a doctor for more than a week.
"I submitted more medical request to have my gunshot wound examined," he wrote, detailing conditions developing on his genitals and stomach a few days after the incident.
When he was seen by medical professionals, Zamarron wrote, they concluded he had a minor hernia and a blood clot.
"I can no longer play sports without pain in my stomach," he wrote. "My personal issues have become disfunctional. [sic] ... I am constantly in pain ... and now lives with the fear of worsening my hernia if I try to exercise to stay in shape."
"I have lost contact with my family, lost good-time [credit] earned for good behavior, had my food taken away ... which has caused me great emotional distress."
The attack didn't just cause him physical harm, Zamarron's lawsuit says, it also caused him trauma and emotional pain and led him to fear corrections officers "who are supposed to provide safety and comfort."
Zamarron's complaint says he has not been given any medical treatment other than Tylenol and has not been able to speak to mental health providers for more than a month, despite repeated requests.
