SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – What started as a house party during the summer of 2020, resulted in a murder investigation after famed Santa Fe High School basketball star, J.B White was shot and killed. Today, his accused killer, Estevan Montoya went on trial. Prosecutors say a group of high school students were having a get-together when Montoya and his friends showed up uninvited, aggravating the party and escalating the scene. As the group started taking over the music and instigating fights, one of his friends started getting belligerent. Prosecutors say 18-year-old White then said to ‘shut that goofy kid up.’
Macias says that was enough to anger Montoya, who was 16 at the time, and the two started fighting. Then, a gunshot went off.
“Defendant walks up to JB confronts him and says, “You don’t want this smoke. No one landed a punch, no one was bloody, no one was getting dominated, no one was getting beat. JB swung… Estevan shot,” said Prosecutor, Jennifer Macias.
A witness who was at the party testified saying she caught the shooting on a Snapchat recording and it only took a few seconds before two shots were fired when people started running for safety. “People were running for their lives. I was so scared that I ran into the bushes and I tripped into the hill. I wanted to not die. I think that might have been the scariest moment of my life.” said Anna Hayes, witness.
The defense claims White was actually the aggressor and was the one who went after Montoya. “J.B. was chasing Estevan, Estevan took that gun, pulled it out of his left waist, grabbed it and shot around his shoulder.” said Attorney, Dan Marlowe.
The defense says Montoya was running away from White and fired the gun, shooting in White’s direction, not knowing he would hit him. White was taken to the hospital where he died. The trial is expected to last through next week.
