A 20-year-old man is admitting to using a machine gun during a March shooting that injured two people at a house party in Northwest Amarillo.
Azaiah Nathaniel Zuniga-Valle, who is being held at the Randall County Jail, is set to appear on Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lee Ann Reno to enter a plea of guilty to a count of unlawful possession of a machine gun, a federal felony that carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
He was set to stand trial on July 28.
His charge stems from a March 22 Amarillo police investigation that began after patrol officers responded about 3:20 a.m. to reports of shots fired at a home in the 300 block of South Missisippi Street.
Responding officers spoke with a resident who was hosting a house party. The resident told officers a man with a rifle arrived at his home and he told him to leave, according to court records.
A partygoer recorded the encounter on his phone, the document states.
The video showed the weapon appeared to have been modified with a device that allowed it to fire multiple bullets with a trigger pull, essentially turning it into a machine gun.
The armed man left, and the house was immediately struck by mulitple bullets, the document states.
Two people suffered gunshot wounds, and investigators found more than two dozen shell casings at the scene, according to a criminal complaint.
Security cameras in the area captured the shooting and showed a gunman stand behind an SUV as he fired at the house. The cameras also captured audio of the shooting with gunshots that were consistent with automatic gunfire, the document states.
Zuniga-Valle was ultimately identified as the shooter after another witness told police that shortly after the shooting Zuniga-Valle held him at gunpoint and forced him to drive him away to Hereford, where police there found them.
During his interview with police investigators, Zuniga-Valle said he bought his rifle a year ago in Hereford and traded a disposable vape for the machinegun device, which he was not permitted to install on the weapon, the document states.
Zuniga-Valle said he got into an argument with someone at the house party and heard what he believed was automatic gunfire and fired back with his rifle.
He said he believed he fired 30 rounds.
He said he traded the rifle he used in the shooting for a handgun, which police found in the vehicle he was riding in.
According to his plea paperwork, Zuniga-Valle has agreed to give up the modified 5.56mm caliber rifle he used in the shooting.
Zuniga-Valle also faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony that carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison in the 108th District Court in Potter County.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Suspected gunman in March house party shooting set to plead guilty
Reporting by Gabriel Monte, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gabriel Monte, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal | USA TODAY Network
