(Stillwater) — A Perkins man has been charged with shooting and wounding a co-worker in the chest with a .38-caliber pistol at a dairy south of Perkins on Brush Creek Road just north of the Lincoln County line.
The victim, Huriel Mendez of Tryon, who was able to speak to authorities, was taken by helicopter to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center following the 6:30 p.m. Sept. 30 shooting, Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Larry Kitchel said.
The defendant, Baltazar Torres, 35, who was arrested at the scene, was transported to the Payne County Jail where he was released after posting $50,000 bond on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, Kitchel said.
Both men were off work at the time of the shooting, in which alcohol was involved, Kitchel said.
“I think an old problem between them came back up, a prior disagreement,” Kitchel said.
A co-worker who lives west of Cushing called the Sheriff’s Office about the shooting, he said.
Torres is currently on probation for driving under the influence of alcohol in Perkins in January, court records show.
He pleaded guilty in June and was given a three-year sentence, all of which was suspended except a 20-day jail term, court records show.
Torres was ordered to have a drug and alcohol evaluation, obtain any recommended follow-up treatment, pay a $500 fine, contribute $300 to the victims’ compensation fund, and perform 50 hours of community service, court records show.
Four years ago, Torres was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in an incident involving alcohol at about 11 p.m. June 14, 2005, near Barta’s Dairy, court records show.
Torres was accused of holding a knife to the throat of Isaias Sosa, threatening to kill him, hitting him in the head with a beer bottle and striking him with his fists, court records show.
In that case, the alleged victim testified at a preliminary hearing, but the case was dismissed 11 months later when the prosecution was unable to locate him for a trial in 2006, court records show.
At the time of the alleged assault, the victim said, “the defendant hit him in the head with some type of instrument, possibly a bottle or a pistol,” then-Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Sammie Dawson wrote in an affidavit.
“The defendant also hit the victim in his face with his fist, taking a knife and holding it to the victim’s neck, threatening to kill him, and then taking a .45 mm or 9 mm pistol and pointing it at him threatening to shoot him,” the affidavit alleged.
The victim had a nearly one-inch high, two-inch wide and three-inch long raised area on his forehead, red marks on his throat and scratch marks as well as bruising on his back, the affidavit said.
The defendant said “that he had been drinking with the victim and they did get into a fight, but he did not hit the victim with any type of weapon,” the affidavit said.
If convicted of his current charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, Torres could be given as much as a 10-year prison term, court records show
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