Man shot near Tres Piedras following dispute
TAOS — The Taos County Sheriff ’s Office says a dispute over money and building materials led to a shooting early Saturday morning near Tres Piedras that left one man wounded and another behind bars.
According to a news release issued by the office, Cliff Peckham, 71, was arrested Saturday and booked in the Taos County jail on suspicion of shooting at or from a motor vehicle and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said he will be requesting that Peckham remain detained without bond until his trial.
The news release said deputies and medics responded to a report of a gunshot wound just before 4 a.m. along U.S. 64. They found a man there who had suffered a gunshot wound to his left arm and side.
The man told deputies that Peckham had fired at him following a dispute over money he said Peckham owed him for some construction materials, as well as work he claimed to have completed for Peckham without payment.
The man had traveled to Peckham’s home near Tres Piedras and taken some of the building materials he felt entitled to, the release said, and when he left the property,
Peckham gave chase in a Jeep Cherokee.
According to the sheriff ’s office, Peckham pulled alongside the man’s vehicle and fired several rounds at him.
The man fled to a nearby residence and called 911 to report that he had been struck by at least one gunshot.
Medics treated him at the scene and transported him to Holy Cross Hospital in Taos.
Peckham also called 911 later in the morning, according to the news release, admitting that he “had shot or shot at someone and agreed to surrender himself.”
Sgt. Jake Cordova took Peckham into custody without incident. Cordova recovered a 9 mm handgun believed to have been used in the shooting. Both vehicles involved in the event also were seized as evidence.
This story first appeared on the website of the weekly Taos News, a sister publication of The Santa Fe New Mexican.