Police search Velarde area for armed carjacking suspect
TAOS — Multiple law enforcement agencies were searching Tuesday for a suspect believed to be armed and dangerous in the Velarde area north of Española along N.M. 68.
The pursuit began after the man — believed to be Martin Rivera, 21, who is wanted on multiple arrest warrants out of the state District Court in Taos — used a firearm to carjack a Toyota pickup from an elderly man at the Ranchos de Taos post office parking lot Tuesday morning, according to Lt. Edwardo Martinez, commander of the New Mexico State Police’s Taos District.
A state police officer spotted the stolen pickup heading southbound on N.M. 68 at a high rate of speed, Martinez said, and briefly chased it along the winding canyon road. But the chase was called off because of the high level of danger posed to the officer and other traffic on the road, Martinez said.
The man crashed the stolen vehicle along Rio Arriba County Road 57, close to Garcia’s Fruit Stand in Velarde, shortly after 9 a.m. He ran away on foot, and officers believe he is still in the area and may be accompanied by 16-year-old Joanne Montoya.
State police say Rivera may have robbed a young person at gunpoint along Camino de la Merced in Taos on Monday afternoon and allegedly stabbed another person during an attempted carjacking Thursday in the Smith’s parking lot in Taos.
Rivera was convicted of aggravated burglary and larceny in 2015 and is serving probation. He has facial tattoos, including a music note below his right eye.
State police and the Rio Arriba County Sheriff ’s Office have initiated a search for Rivera and said they would be deploying a helicopter to assist in the search.
This story first appeared on the website of The Taos News, a sister paper of The Santa Fe New Mexican.