One dead after Portales shooting

PORTALES — An investigation Thursday into the death of a young man in Portales during the night occupied local police and the 9th Judicial District's Major Crimes Unit for much of the day, but by evening, no charges had been filed in connection with the incident.

Condolences for Dylan Nutter, 20, poured in across social media as word broke of officers finding a "deceased subject" around 3:30 a.m. Thursday at his residence on the 1400 block of South Avenue B.

According to a Portales Police Department news release, officers had responded "regarding a possible shooting."

PPD officer Andrew Olivas told The News late Thursday morning that he had been on scene since the first report, when responders set up an outer perimeter extending down Avenue B between 14th and 15th streets, with an inner perimeter of caution tape around the house itself.

Shortly after 11 a.m., officials wheeled a cart carrying a body bag out the house's front door, down the sidewalk and into a van. Soon after, responders removed a few bags of items from the house, and before noon they had removed the caution tape and departed the scene.

Around noon, police spoke with Brittany Leaverton, 22, at the station in Portales. Leaverton told The News on Thursday that she and her friend Zimri Paulk knew Nutter well but that she hadn't seen him at all the previous night.

Leaverton and Paulk, 20, were both arrested Thursday afternoon on charges unrelated to the shooting death, according to court and jail records. District Attorney Andrea Reeb said that as of Thursday evening no charges had been filed in connection with the shooting incident.

The mother of Nutter's young child said she was at a loss when she heard of Nutter's violent death.

"I just started crying and screaming. I just couldn't handle the news because I didn't think it was true," Angelina Christine Bice told The News. "It was just unbelievable. I didn't know what to do so I just sat crying in the bathroom."

Bice said she had known Nutter for nine years, when he moved to Portales with his mother. They dated for six years and have a 2-year-old son together but broke up in April, she said. It was the sister of Nutter's current girlfriend who broke the news of his passing to her Thursday, she said.

"He was a people person ... he loved everyone around him," she said. "He was outgoing, he was funny, he was really cool with everybody."

Nutter loved working on cars, and "he loved his son (Eric Bice Nutter). He was such a great dad," Bice said.

PPD said the incident is under investigation and that "further information will be sent when available."

This was the first time the Major Crimes Unit has been activated for Portales since two separate homicides occurred on successive Thursdays in April, when Erika Zamorano and Dylan McKay were shot dead on April 19 and 26, respectively.