Peñasco man accused of stabbing his parents

The Taos County Sheriff’s Office detained a Peñasco man accused of stabbing his mother and father Oct. 9 and took him to receive a mental health evaluation, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.

Undersheriff Steve Miera said deputies who responded to the report of the stabbing subdued 22-year-old Matthew Fresquez using a Taser device after the man approached them carrying an “edged weapon.”

“Upon the arrival of the deputies, [the perpetrator] did close distance on them wielding the same edged weapon used to stab his parents,” said Miera in an email.

Family members explained Fresquez suffers from a mental illness.

Miera said his deputies made the right call in subduing Fresquez “without the use of lethal force.”

A body cam video obtained by the Taos News shows officers approach Fresquez, who is standing in the bed of a pickup truck as a family member warns deputies he was in the midst of a mental health crisis.

On the video, deputies engage Fresquez as he climbs down from the bed and begins to move toward them. After issuing Fresquez warnings to stop, deputies eventually shoot Fresquez with a Taser.

“In my opinion, lethal force would have been justified,” said Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe, who added he was proud of the way his team handled the situation.

Miera said criminal charges are pending the results of the mental health evaluation.

While the man’s mother was expected to recover from her wounds last week, the father was still in an intensive care unit as of Thursday (Oct. 14).