Man faces attempted murder charge in shooting

MINTURN — Detectives spent all day Monday trying to determine why Jaime David Quintana allegedly shot Bruce Plummer early Monday morning and why the men were in a Minturn alley at about 5 a.m.

After local law enforcement got the call, Eagle County sheriff’s deputies scoured the Minturn area searching for Quintana. They spotted him around 8 a.m. walking along a Minturn street not far from his home, said Mike McWilliam, Eagle County undersheriff.

The town of Minturn contracts with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services for the town.

Quintana, 43, was arrested without incident and booked into the Eagle County jail. He faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault.

Plummer remains in serious but stable condition at the Vail Valley Medical Center. He was shot once in the chest with a handgun, but the bullet missed his heart. It hit him higher in the chest, above the heart, went through and exited out his back, sheriff’s investigators said.

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Quintana has no prior criminal record, apart from traffic infractions and a misdemeanor for fighting, court records show. He is being held without bond, prior to his first court appearance, set for 11:15 a.m. today before Eagle County Judge Katharine Sullivan.

Sheriff’s investigators said they took a sample of Quintana’s blood Monday after he was arrested, to perform a toxicology report, but results were not available. No motive for the shooting is known at this time, McWilliam said.

Plummer has been a fixture in Minturn for decades.

He graduated second in Battle Mountain High School’s class of 1986 and travels the world but always returns to Minturn.

Plummer spent more than two decades behind the bar at Minturn’s Saloon, and his head-to-toe tattoos are a familiar sight for backcountry skiers who have made their way down the Minturn Mile. Plummer was one of the first to help make the Saloon famous for refusing to make any libation that John Wayne wouldn’t drink.

RECENT SHOOTINGS

Monday’s shooting in Minturn is the county’s fifth in the last 15 months, McWilliam said.

“We usually get one every three or four years,” said McWilliam, who has been in local law enforcement for more than three decades.

“Let’s hope this is not an indicator of how 2015 is going to go,” said Lt. Dan Loya, with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.

The list of recent shootings is:

Traci Cunningham: Cunningham faces first-degree murder charges after she allegedly drove her adoptive mother — a retired nun and elementary school teacher — to a spot about 14 miles south of Gypsum and shot her in the back.

Gypsum shooting: A 13-year-old Gypsum boy shot his father twice in the head, then spent six days alone in the house with the corpse. He called his father’s employer each day to report that his father was too sick to come to work. The boy recently pleaded guilty and will spend the next 10 years in either juvenile or adult prisons.

Williams Amaya: Amaya is charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed his aunt and uncle, with whom he was living in the Roaring Fork Valley section of Eagle County. The shootings reportedly stemmed from a disagreement about a dog. Police say that on the day of the shootings, Amaya drove to Grand Junction to buy the gun and ammunition he used.

Doug Behrends: In mid-December, Brooks Hampton was shot and killed when he reportedly pushed in the front door of Doug Behrends’ home in Burns. The case remains under investigation.

Jaime David Quintana: Quintana allegedly shot Bruce Plummer in the predawn hours of Monday morning. Quintana faces attempted murder charges.

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