MAN SHOT DEAD BY DEPUTIES
BCSO Says Suspect Held Knife to Throat of Hostage
A South Valley man had already stabbed his hostage and was again pressing a knife to her throat Thursday when sheriff’s deputies opened fire, killing him, according to Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Sam White.
Two deputies shot the man at close range outside his South Valley home about 1 p.m.
“The subject had refused commands and started to drag the victim back into the house with the knife at her throat, and deputies had to take action,” White said. “... We saw that there was a clear and present danger to the victim. He had already cut her throat. This wasn’t just an idle threat.”
The hostage standoff started about 12:30 p.m. near Arenal and Coors SW, about a block from Rio Grande High School. After about 30 minutes, the suspect, who officers said was in his 50s, left the house while pressing a knife into the woman’s neck.
Neighbors said the suspect had mental health issues and at least one said he sometimes failed to take his medication.
The two officers fired an unspecified number of shots
after the suspect began dragging the woman into the house. White did not say where the man was hit.
The woman had earlier suffered a non-serious stab wound, White said.
White declined to release the identities of the suspect or victim, who was later released from the hospital. He said the two were related, but declined to say how.
Deputies had called SWAT officers, White said, but not all had arrived when the suspect stepped out of his house.
White said he didn’t know whether officers had nonlethal options at their disposal or whether they would have been effective. The two deputies are on standard paid leave.
Sheriff Dan Houston praised the deputies’ quick response to the incident.
“I believe that our deputies under these circumstances acted valiantly,” Houston said. “...They’re good deputies, and they have a good history (in the department).”
Blondis Ledesma, a nextdoor neighbor who saw the standoff and heard deputies fire four shots, said she was outside when the suspect came out and his victim was bleeding heavily from her neck.
“I was watering my plants,” Ledesma said in Spanish. “I saw him walk out with the knife to her neck, and I panicked and went inside.”
Ledesma said she saw seven deputies, some in civilian clothing and others with helmets carrying large weapons, outside the suspect’s house.
She said she often saw the suspect pacing in and out of his house late at night and early in the morning, as if he were always scared.
Another neighbor said he had frequent conversations with the suspect, who often apologized for his actions, saying he had failed to take his medications.
“He’s a nice guy when he’s straight,” said Eddie Montoya. “But he’s not all there, he has mental problems and ... he doesn’t know what he’s doing sometimes.”
Rio Grande High School students left class shortly after the shooting, and deputies closed traffic until they cleaned up the scene to avoid letting the students see it.
Three high school students walking home said their classes weren’t affected by the shooting.