Shooting suspect claims self-defense

Victim remains in critical condition at UNM hospital; suspect jailed on charge of felon in possession of weapon

A Lone Butte resident accused in a shooting Sunday morning that left 29-year-year Gary Merino-Ramirez in critical condition told Santa Fe County sheriff ’s deputies that Merino-Ramirez had started arguing with him in his home, threatened to hit his 6-year-old grandson and threw a knife at him, according to the deputies’ reports.

When Merino-Ramirez lunged at him with a hunting knife, Charles “Carlos” A. Anaya told deputies he fired three shots.

Sheriff ’s office investigators have released few other details about what led Anaya, 62, to shoot the younger man. Juan Ríos, a sheriff ’s office spokesman, told

the argument that sparked Anaya’s shooting is related to another ongoing criminal investigation and that details of the incident were intentionally withheld from released documents.

Deputies responded to the Turquoise Trail Fire Department off N.M. 14, south of Santa Fe, around 9:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a report, where they found Merino-Ramirez with gunshot wounds to the head and stomach.

Merino-Ramirez was awake, the report said, and told the officers, “I don’t want to die.”

Paramedics took him to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and he was airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.

Hospital spokesman Luke Frank said Tuesday that Merino-Ramirez was in critical condition.

According to the hospital’s website, that means a patient has unstable vital signs and is facing an immediate threat to life.

Three men who brought Merino-Ramirez to the fire department told deputies they had been heading to the nearby West Cochiti area Sunday when Merino-Ramirez asked to stop at Anaya’s mobile home on Northfork Road.

The driver, BillyRay Spencer, told deputies he went into the house with Merino-Ramirez, but returned to the car when Anaya asked the men to leave.

Minutes later, he said, he heard gunshots. The three men took Merino-Ramirez from the mobile home to the fire department to meet 911 responders.

“I’m just worried about my friend, him pulling through and stuff,” Spencer said. “Pray for him.”

Sheriff ’s deputies arrested Anaya at his home.

A search warrant says officers found “blood in numerous locations” in the mobile home and recovered a .22-caliber rifle, four .22-caliber casings, a knife and other evidence from the scene.

Anaya was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm after deputies discovered his 1991 felony conviction for trafficking cocaine, according to the statement of probable cause.

Court records show that Merino-Ramirez also had felony convictions, including burglary and larceny in 2011, possession of cocaine in 2013 and a charge last year for escaping from a court-supervised program.

Anaya was arraigned Monday. A judge set his bond at $2,500 and ordered him back for a hearing in mid-August.

As of Tuesday, no charges had been filed against Merino-Ramirez.

Contact reporter Sami Edge at 505-986-3055 or sedge@sfnewmexican.com.