Woman says father wrongly jailed in Ilfeld shooting

The daughter of a man charged in a Sept. 27 shootout in Ilfeld says she believes New Mexico State Police arrested the wrong man.

Leroy Padilla, 52, faces charges of aggravated battery, criminal damage to property, shooting from a motor vehicle, shooting at a dwelling and three counts of aggravated assault in an incident involving a relative who lives near him, according to a criminal complaint filed in San Miguel County Magistrate Court. He was released from jail a day after his arrest.

Leroy Padilla is accused of driving past his uncle’s home on Frontage Road 2116, just off Interstate 25 in the community southeast of Pecos, and instigating an argument with the uncle, Geraldo Padilla. Leroy Padilla then fired a gun at his uncle and rammed into a blue truck parked behind him as he attempted to flee, the criminal complaint said.

But his daughter, Jolynn Padilla, said in an interview the police report has errors.

She said she did not witness the incident but spoke with her father immediately afterward, before he was taken into custody.

“They ambushed my dad,” she said of her uncle and another relative. “They waited for him to come back. Everyone is making my dad look like the criminal when, in fact, he’s not.”

Though the two Ilfeld neighbors are closely related, she said, they have had long-standing issues that escalated, leading to the shooting last week.

The morning of Sept. 27, a blue Toyota truck was “lurking” in front of her father’s home, Jolynn Padilla said. Her father left to put gas in his car at the Pecos River Gas Station, and when he was driving back, Geraldo Padilla was out in the road near his own property, “waiting for him,” she said.

“My dad pulled over — not on their property — and another gentleman blocked him in with his car,” she said. “My dad could not move, so in self-defense, my dad backed into that vehicle, and when my dad did that, the other gentleman fired the first round at my dad.”

Geraldo Padilla could not be reached for comment.

Leroy Padilla and Geraldo Padilla both told state police they had fired several rounds at each other, but no one was hit or injured, the criminal complaint said.

Jolynn Padilla said she was in Lamy when she and her husband received a call about the shooting. She arrived at her father’s home about 30 minutes later, she said, and state police still were not there.

“They didn’t come until about an hour and a half later,” she said.

Geraldo Padilla told investigators he felt “threatened” by his nephew and said Leroy Padilla started shooting first, the complaint said.

Leroy Padilla, meanwhile, told police his uncle had fired first at him as he was trying to flee.

State police arrested Leroy Padilla after witnesses said he had instigated the altercation. The two witnesses were Geraldo Padilla’s sister and another nephew, who was in the blue truck.

Jolynn Padilla said she often goes to her father’s property. They use a walking path on the property, which she said Geraldo Padilla has been destroying or blocking.

Her father called state police just days prior to the shooting, informing them his family did not feel safe due to the conflict with Geraldo Padilla, and he was concerned the situation may escalate, she added.

“We did reach out for help prior to all of this, and they basically did nothing,” she said.

State police confirmed they had received a call from Leroy Padilla’s residence prior to last week’s shooting.

When asked why both men were not charged in the shooting and why previous encounters were not cited in the criminal complaint, Lt. Mark Soriano, a spokesman for the agency, said the investigation is ongoing.

“At the completion of the investigation ... the District Attorney’s Office will determine whether charges are warranted and what those charges will be,” he said.

Jolynn Padilla said her father is a good, hardworking man with no criminal history. Court records show he has no previous violent criminal charges in New Mexico.

“The only reason he got a temper that day is because these people are harassing his family,” she said. “But he is not a bad person.”