Sheriff’s office seeks man accused of firing at deputy
The Santa Fe County Sheriff ’s Office is searching for a Hernandez man who is accused of pointing a gun at another driver Tuesday on U.S. 84/285, then firing twice at a deputy who pursued him. A news release from the sheriff ’s office said Randy Branch, 29, who managed to flee officers near La Puebla, is considered armed and dangerous.
According to an affidavit filed for Branch’s arrest, a man called emergency dispatchers Tuesday to report that the driver of a red GMC Envoy had pointed a gun at him.
The Envoy driver, believed to be Branch, had been swerving toward other vehicles, then brake-checked him and pointed what appeared to be a 9 mm Glock pistol in his direction, the other driver told police. A deputy who responded to the call found the Envoy on Tesuque Village Road, then chased the driver onto southbound U.S. 84/285, according to the affidavit.
According to the court document, the driver leaned out of the window and fired two shots at the deputy’s patrol car near the southbound exit to N.M. 599. The deputy kept chasing the Envoy into Santa Fe, where he lost sight of the vehicle on St. Francis Drive near Paseo de Peralta.
The chase resumed a short while later when a different sheriff ’s office detective spotted the Envoy going northbound on N.M. 599, the document says. Police chased the vehicle onto U.S. 84/285 and eventually into Pojoaque. During the second chase, the affidavit said, the car drove up to 120 mph, swerved in and out of lanes, blew through multiple red lights and “nearly struck multiple vehicles at the Buffalo Thunder Road/Frontage Road intersection.”
Bureau of Indian Affairs officers and members of the Pojoaque Police Department helped with the chase, the document says. Officers lost the Envoy on N.M. 88 near La Puebla, according to the affidavit.
Branch is facing seven charges related to the incident, including aggravated assault on a police officer, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A search of online court records showed Branch has faced a
number of charges in area courts in the past decade, including speeding, reckless driving, forgery, larceny and child abuse, according to online court records.
The sheriff ’s office advises anyone who encounters Branch to avoid contact with him and to call 911 or investigators at 505-428-3720.
Santa Fe County Sheriff ’s deputies also reported a separate road rage incident on Tuesday, in which a woman said a man pointed a black and silver gun at her on Interstate 25. That case is still under investigation, according to a website on which the sheriff ’s office posts its reports.
Contact Sami Edge at 505-986-3055.