YOUR AD HERE »

Minturn man to stand trial in January shooting

Jaime Quintana

EAGLE — Bruce Plummer was shot once in the chest in the predawn hours of Jan. 11. That we know.

Whether Jamie Quintana deliberately shot him or was acting in self-defense is something a jury will decide.

Judge Katharine Sullivan ruled that Quintana will stand trial for the shooting.



Jim Fahrenholtz, Quintana’s defense attorney, alluded that Quintana shot Plummer in self-defense.

“There are a lot of inconsistencies in the stories that will come to light,” Fahrenholtz said during this week’s preliminary hearing.

Support Local Journalism



Prosecutor Joe Kirwan said Plummer told him Quintana acted deliberately.

“Mr. Plummer told Mr. Quintana not to shoot him. He shot him anyway. That constitutes deliberation,” Kirwan said.

Quintana did not testify during this week’s preliminary hearing. Plummer did.

Those were the only two on the scene during the shooting.

One version of events

Plummer and Quintana were part of a group in the studio of a Minturn radio station, during a friend’s show, “Punk Church.” The show is currently on hiatus.

Plummer said he stopped by a Minturn bar late that night, paid all the tabs that were left open at 2 a.m. and made sure everyone tipped the bartender.

He said he grabbed three bottles of liquor — whiskey, vodka and tequila — and took them to the radio station.

He testified that he’d been in a bad mood all day, had been looking for a fight and told one of the other guys to punch him in the face because the man owed Plummer one.

The “Punk Church” show wrapped up about 4 a.m., and Plummer said he sent everyone home. He said he left the station about 5 a.m., walking toward his home in Minturn.

He said he encountered Quintana in an alley near a Minturn restaurant.

“Jaime was standing by a truck, and I told him not to drive because I was the one who brought the liquor to the radio station,” Plummer said.

Plummer said he gave Quintana a noogie and told him to go home.

Detective Gianni Robinson with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office said that they were arguing so loudly they woke up a neighbor.

Plummer said as he turned away he heard the sound of a truck door opening and closing. He said when he turned around, Quintana was standing by the driver’s side door and pointing a gun at him.

Plummer testified that he said, “Jaime, don’t you shoot me. Don’t you effin’ shoot me.”

Plummer said he started walking toward Quintana and started running after he’d been shot.

“I told him I was going to kill him with the gun he shot me with, or at least beat him with it,” Plummer said.

The bullet went through Plummer’s chest just above his heart and exited through his back.

Plummer said he knew he was bleeding out both the front and back of his body. He tried to stop the bleeding from the front wound with his hands and lay down in the snow to try to stop the bleeding from his back that way.

When shown a photo of the 9-millimeter gunshot wound during testimony, Plummer said, “It’s a lovely picture of me with a bullet wound in my chest. I was told it was 9, it looked like a 9 and the hole in my shoulder looks like a 9.”

Someone working with a local fishing guide company helped control the bleeding and called 911.

All that transpired at about 5 a.m., according to sheriff’s reports. Quintana was arrested about 8 a.m., walking along a street near his Minturn home. He’s being held in the Eagle County jail on $100,000 bond.

Plummer was treated at the Vail Valley Medical Center.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 or rwyrick@vaildaily.com.


Support Local Journalism