Valentine man arrested for allegedly shooting woman in Marfa Wednesday – The Big Bend Sentinel

MARFA — A man showed up at the Marfa Open at 102 S. Plateau St. after midnight Wednesday with a handgun, urinated from the porch, sat down and then aimed at a car that had just pulled into the parking lot, surveillance video of the incident shows. The man then fired one shot at the vehicle, waited, then fired another shot and fired again as the car left the parking lot.

Marfa police were notified of the incident when they stopped a woman shortly after midnight who then reported that someone shot at her in the Marfa Open parking lot while she was sitting in her car, according to a Marfa police statement. The officer noticed a bullet hole in the car. Gunshots were also reported.

After police began investigating, they stopped a pickup truck driven by Matthew “Matty” Gray, 37, a recent resident of Valentine. Officers found a handgun in the car and later viewed video of the shooting to identify Gray. Police arrested Gray and charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, deadly conduct, discharging a firearm in certain municipalities, driving under the influence and carrying a firearm without a license, according to the police statement. Presidio County Jail records show he was released Wednesday on $25,000 bail. (This is not the same Matthew Gray as the artist who works on sculptures west of Valentine.)

The surveillance video was released to The Big Bend Sentinel by Jason McHenry, director of Marfa Open. McHenry said he wanted to show that there was no event or party going on at Marfa Open at the time. The video shows a man who appears to be Gray sitting on an empty and quiet porch with no other noises in the background.

McHenry said Marfa Open had no formal affiliation with Gray, but he had done his laundry there a few times.

Marfa police did not release the identity of the woman who was shot as of press time. However, McHenry identified the woman as Irlanda Vargas, 28, who is believed to live in Alpine and has exhibited work at Marfa Open before. McHenry said they know her and that she had come to visit a local artist. “She was completely shaken afterward,” he said. Vargas could not immediately be reached for comment.

McHenry said he and two others at the Marfa Open were just falling asleep when they were awakened by loud bangs. “It was over before we knew what had happened,” he wrote in a statement to police. “We immediately called the police, who acted quickly and arrested him within minutes. Fortunately, we had video cameras that documented the entire incident from two different angles.”

“Matty” Gray lived in a trailer behind the Valentine Bar, said owner Jeff Wilson, who The Guardian on the porch of the Marfa Open on Friday afternoon. He said he believed Gray, whom he knew well, had left Valentine. Wilson and McHenry said they had no idea what motivated Gray to shoot Vargas and that he knew him only as a nice guy. Wilson and McHenry speculated that bars in Marfa had just closed, Gray may have been heavily intoxicated and he may have thought someone was after him. “He was over here,” Wilson said, pointing to a back part of the parking lot, “parked at an angle and in a defensive position.”

The video shows Gray allegedly driving into the parking lot and then walking to a corner not captured by the security cameras. Then, video from the porch shows him approaching with his dog, Dusty, who is carrying a handgun. The man is wearing a black T-shirt and a straw cowboy hat. After he relieves himself and sits down, the camera captures a white sedan driving into the parking lot and stopping parallel to the porch. McHenry said he later found out Vargas had texted her boyfriend to let him know she had arrived. The man points the gun directly at the car — which was parked a good distance away in the parking lot — and says, “Who is that?” He then says, “Call your name, you're on private property. You're on private property, call your name.” He fires one shot at the sedan and says again, “Call your name, you're on private property.” He then says, “Go on. Whoever you are, keep driving,” before firing a second shot that clearly hits the back corner of the limo. The limo backs up, turns toward the exit, and slowly drives away, but the man fires a third and final shot at them.

The dog, Dusty, fled at the first shot. A cat runs out of the parking lot at the shot but then returns, only to flee again at the other shots. McHenry said Dusty was found and returned to Valentine, but it's unclear if he returned to Gray.

According to bar patrons, Gray was a regular at the Valentine Bar and occasionally worked as a bartender there.

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