Police: Shooting may have been gang-related

A shooting early Sunday morning that sent a Clovis man to a Lubbock hospital may have been gang-related, Clovis police say.

Jaime Aragon, 21, was transported to a hospital in Lubbock after he was shot by unknown assailants about 3:20 a.m. Sunday, according to Detective Matthew Solari. The hospital name was not released by police and both major hospitals in Lubbock said they did not have him as a patient.

A relative said the family fears retaliation and is afraid to comment, but said Aragon’s condition is deteriorating and he could die from his wounds. Aragon has a 5-year-old son and family members are encouraging him to struggle to stay alive for his son’s sake, the relative said.

“There have been growing problems between the gangs in town and it seems to be basically coming to a head,” Solari said. “I was called out Saturday morning for an aggravated assault with a weapon case that was basically gang-related, and now this.”

Solari said he was called to the 1300 block of West Street about 3:30 a.m. Sunday and found a brown van with two flat tires on the passenger side.

“It looks like the van was being driven away, possibly chased,” Solari said. “On the front tire, the rubber was almost completely off the tire. I couldn’t find any evidence of the tires being flattened previous to it being there, but with the rubber being removed from the rim it looks like it had been driven.”

Solari said Aragon was shot after he left his van.

“He was standing outside the van and they shot him in the side,” Solari said. “There is no suspect information at all.”

Solari said he hopes people in Clovis will come forward with further information.

“The biggest problem in this town, from what I’ve seen, is everybody believes they are being a snitch if they are reporting a crime,” Solari said. “It’s a real wall to us because we cannot get the evidence we need to bring justice to their victims.”

“Whether people are victims themselves or witnesses to a crime, it’s a matter of people doing the right thing,” Solari said.