July 13, 2026 |
Photo – Courtesy of Moffat County Sheriff’s Office
More information has been released about the man accused of a Baggs shooting. This incident is unrelated to the separate shooting that severely injured Sergeant Zach Burns last month.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, July 5th, the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office received reports of a man with a gunshot wound traveling on Colorado Highway 13, south of Baggs. Deputies escorted the caller’s vehicle to Memorial Regional Health in Craig, Colorado, where the injured man received treatment. Soon after, 38‑year‑old Alejandro Rodriguez‑Zarraga, of Craig, was arrested in connection with the incident.
In a written affidavit from Carbon County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Patrick Patterson, he received a call of a shooting in Baggs around 1:30 a.m. on July 5th. Sergeant Patterson wrote that investigators with the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office determined that Rodriguez‑Zarraga, Santiago Aragon, Jorge Chaves-Campos, and Martin Valenzuela Villagas were drinking in a Baggs bar early Sunday morning. At 1:18 a.m., the men left in a red Ford Raptor pickup. Shortly afterwards, Rodriguez‑Zarraga allegedly began firing a .45‑caliber Sig Sauer 1911‑style handgun out the rear passenger window. After shooting six rounds, witnesses say he brought the weapon back inside the vehicle and fired once again, sending a bullet through the front passenger seat and striking Santiago Aragon in the chest.
Sergeant Patterson wrote that the occupants of the vehicle attempted to stop the bleeding while they drove Aragon to Memorial Regional Health in Craig. They called 911 while in route, which was answered by the Rawlins Police Department, and reported that Rodriguez‑Zarraga still had the handgun in his possession.
Moffat County deputies were alerted to the incident and headed north toward the Wyoming border. Around mile marker 94, Deputy Nick Marchbanks spotted the red Ford Raptor traveling at high speed and flashing its lights. He turned around and followed the vehicle to the Craig hospital. Both Chaves‑Campos and Valenzuela Villagas told officers that Rodriguez‑Zarraga had fired the shots. The defendant admitted he had been partying in Baggs that night and was drunk.
Officers found the handgun and several open alcohol containers in the vehicle. In Baggs, they recovered six empty .45 caliber shell casings from the scene of the shooting. The weapon was reported stolen out of Bell County, Texas.
Alejandro Rodriguez‑Zarraga was taken into custody and charged with reckless endangering by Carbon County Attorney Sarah Chaves Harkins. If convicted, he could face up to one year in jail and a $750 fine.
