House collision near miss for resident

CLOVIS -- Devon Seaborne usually falls asleep on his couch. Late on the evening of July 8, he was on Facetime talking with a friend who said, “Why are you on your couch? You have a bed.”

It was a good suggestion.

Had he fallen asleep on his couch, Seaborne would have been in the path of a Dodge truck that rammed his house a few hours later, plowing through his living room and destroying the wall between his living room and kitchen.

In the driver’s seat of the truck was Victor Davila, 22, of Friona, who was soon removed by emergency responders who discovered he’d been shot. Davila was taken to Plains Regional Medical Center where he died from his injuries.

Clovis police continue to investigate the shooting death of Davila that happened in the early hours of July 9. No arrests had been made going into Friday evening.

Seaborne, 24, from O’Fallon, Ill., is an airman with the U.S. Air Force and the lone occupant of 915 Connelly, a house now slated for demolition.

“I was asleep in my bed,” Seaborne said. “Before I went to bed I was hearing fireworks, I looked out my window and saw people lighting fireworks.”

Seaborne said he wondered if he might be dreaming when the fireworks seemed to be getting closer, and then sounded like gunshots. He turned over in his bed just as a loud noise shook him awake.

“It was so surreal,” he said.

Seaborne said he turned on a light, put on his glasses and saw tail lights in his living room.

He said the truck took out the front wall of the home, nicked a corner of his bedroom and took out the wall from the living room to the kitchen.

Seaborne said he got on his phone and called the police for the first time in his life. He called to report someone had just crashed into his house.

Seaborne heard voices outside in the yard and he cautiously walked outside to find two police officers there.

“I was astonished as to how fast they got there,” Seaborne said. “But it turned out they were already in the neighborhood responding to a ‘shots fired’ call.”

Seaborne said within about five minutes his entire neighborhood was bathed in red and blue lights from “maybe 10 police cars, fire trucks and emergency vehicles.”

Seaborne was allowed in the house for a short time later Saturday. He said it was obvious the residence was no longer habitable.

The airman was not harmed in the incident. He praised his network of friends, co-workers and former co-workers for helping him relocate.

Daryl Loewen of Loewen Clovis Realty owns the house at 915 Connelly. He describes the property as “condemned.”

“It was a cute little house,” Loewen said. “We had done a rehab on it not too long ago. We painted it inside and out, put in new appliances.”

Loewen said the vehicle took out the whole living room, smashed through an interior wall to the kitchen and “almost went through the back wall.”

“We were innocent,” Loewen said. “The tenant was innocent. It’s all because of what happened down the street.”

Police have released little information about what happened down the street.

Authorities said Friday they have learned that more than one person was involved in shooting a weapon during the incident. The identities of all those involved in the gunfire have not been confirmed.

District Attorney Brian Stover said police have at least two suspects in the incident that occurred about 12:50 a.m. Saturday in the 900 block of Connelly Street.

“We have released everything in the investigation that we can afford to,” Telles said.

“We’re hoping we’re getting a little bit closer (to determining what happened).”

Telles said there are persons of interest who have been interviewed and have yet to be interviewed.

He said two women, identified as Rebecca Diaz-Ramirez, 55, and Janeth Ramirez, 27, were injured during the shooting. Both women were inside their home at 921 Connelly Street when they were shot. He said police don’t believe the women were targeted, but were innocent bystanders. The bullets that entered their home came from outside, he said.