Officer shoots woman at Taos park

Injured woman in critical condition; man arrested on probation violation

TAOS — At least one person was wounded during an officer-involved shooting near Fred Baca Park in Taos on Monday afternoon.

Interim Taos Police Chief David Maggio confirmed the shooting around 3 p.m. “One person was wounded and a second was taken into custody,” he said.

The wounded person has been identified as Elizabeth Maestas. Police took Ricardo Cardenas, who had been wanted on warrant, into custody.

Maggio stated that members of the Taos County Adult Probation and Corrections Department believed they had been tracking a parole absconder, Jude Salazar, whom they thought was driving a teal-colored vehicle Monday afternoon.

When the vehicle pulled into Fred Baca Park around 2 p.m., the parole officers approached and looked through the windshield, noting that Salazar was not in the vehicle. Instead, they identified another person behind the wheel of the vehicle, Cardenas, alongside Maestas, who sat in the passenger seat.

The parole officers called in support from Taos Police Department, which dispatched one officer, whom Maggio has not identified.

Upon the officer’s arrival, the suspects in the vehicle attempted to flee, Maggio said, allegedly striking a parole officer. The police officer then pulled his firearm and fired one shot into the vehicle, striking Maestas in the lower abdomen. Cardenas was subsequently taken into custody.

New Mexico State Police and Taos County Sheriff ’s deputies arrived on the scene to provide support and take witness statements from visitors as members of Taos Volunteer Fire Department blockaded the intersections along Camino del Medio on either side of the park.

An ambulance transported Maestas to Holy Cross Hospital, where she would be stablized and flown to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuqerque. “She is in critical condition,” Maggio said.