Deputies respond to back-to-back suspected suicides

Taos County Sheriff’s deputies responded to two separate suicide incidents in the Las Colonias area of Taos County on Wednesday evening (Feb. 16), according to a press release from Undersheriff Steve Miera.

Deputies first responded to a call of an unresponsive female in her late teens who had been discovered by her family. A field investigator with the Office of the Medical Investigator determined the initial cause of death to be a suicide, but an official cause of death will be released after toxicology reports.

While deputies were on scene attending to the unresponsive woman, another call came through Taos Central Dispatch in the Las Colonias area, this time, with reports of “shots fired.” As deputies arrived on scene they found an “elderly male” who appeared to have suffered from a gunshot wound.

The field investigator for the OMI said it appeared the man suffered from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and made an initial determination of suicide, but the precise cause of death is also pending a full autopsy.

“Both of these incidents are under investigation,” Miera said in the press release.

“If you or someone in our community is suffering from mental health issues, please help them by contacting someone who can help,” he added. “We here in Taos County have so many people who are willing to help.”

The state saw its suicide rate rise just slightly from 2019 to 2020 (the most recent statistics available), and New Mexico currently has the fourth highest age-adjusted rate for suicides in the country. In Taos County, the number of suicide deaths rose from seven in 2019 to nine in 2020, but was still down from the five-year high of 14 in 2017.