A woman remained on life support in a Colorado hospital on Tuesday after being shot in the head last week at a home in Gillette, according to a friend and court documents.
Sarah Holcomb, 38, of Casper, described the victim, identified in court records as Marissa Allen, as cheerful and outgoing.
“She would make the maddest person laugh," Holcomb said in a phone interview with Cowboy State Daily. “She would make everyone feel wanted and included.”
According to the Gillette police, officers responded to a home in the 1300 block of O’Henry Drive around 5 p.m. Thursday for a report of gunshots and people arguing.
It was there that they found Allen inside a garage with a gunshot wound and Javier Abeyta holding a handgun, states a probable cause affidavit filed in Campbell County District Court.
Charges
Abeyta, 43, has been charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault and battery. He remained in the Campbell County Detention Center on Tuesday,
Allen was taken by ambulance to Campbell County Health hospital.
She was later airlifted to UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado, where she remained Tuesday, Holcomb said.
Police have not released details about the relationship between Abeyta and Allen or information about a possible motive for the shooting.
Holcomb said Allen and Abeyta were not romantically involved.
A probable cause affidavit states a Gillette officer responding to a shots fired call opened a garage door at the home and found Allen on the floor.
Abeyta, who dropped a handgun he was holding, walked out of the garage and allegedly said, “I just shot her.”
Officers immediately performed CPR on Allen, who had a gunshot wound to the head and wasn’t breathing.
She was revived and hospitalized, but the affidavit says a doctor at UCHealth on Sunday determined Allen met the criteria of being brain dead.
‘Acting Crazy’
The owner of the home told officers Abeyta came over Thursday morning and was “acting crazy” and made several paranoid statements, said the affidavit.
Officers interviewed another person who was at the house and said that a group of people there intended to use meth, according to the affidavit.
At one point, while in the garage, Abeyta held a gun with a “blank stare on his face,” and that Allen and another woman yelled at him in an attempt to disarm him, the affidavit states.
Two men ran from the garage toward the backyard where they heard a single gunshot ring out. One of the men encountered Abeyta as he walked out of the garage. “Get out of my way or I will shoot you too,” Abeyta told the man, according to the affidavit. “I shot her. I killed her.”
Abeyta’s sister later told police he had been paranoid and “spiraling” throughout the day, adding she took him to a hospital because she believed he was dehydrated from alcohol use.
Police searched the garage and recovered a bullet in the drywall and a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.
Holcomb said she is shocked by the shooting and recalled meeting Allen while they were both serving prison sentences at the Wyoming Women’s Center in Lusk.
Holcomb got out of prison in 2021 and lost track of Allen but kept up with her on Facebook.
She last saw Allen at a gas station in Casper in 2024 and gave her a hug.
“She seemed to be on track and was doing good with her life,” Holcomb said. “She seemed like she was living life like she should have been. Nobody deserves to be a victim of gun violence.”
Scott Schwebke can be reached at scott@cowboystatedaily.com.
