El Prado man charged with murder
An El Prado man was arrested over the weekend in connection with the murder of another El Prado-area resident. Manuel Gerrado Gamez-Lazoya, 38, was taken into custody after turning himself in to New Mexico State Police on April 2 in Santa Fe and charged with the murder of 55-year-old Cleofas Dominguez-Armendariz.
Gamez-Lazoya also faces three counts of tampering with evidence (third-degree felonies) and two counts of conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence (fourth-degree felonies).
According to court records, the incident occurred around 7:45 p.m. on March 31 after the two men got into an argument outside Gamez-Lazoya’s home on Straight Arrow Road. According to a statement of probable cause filed in Taos Magistrate Court on April 4, Dominguez-Armendariz and Gamez-Lazoya were having a disagreement over marital issues amongst the two men’s families.
In a statement to New Mexico State Police from GamezLazoya’s wife, she said Dominguez-Armendariz showed up at their house, drew a gun and pointed it at her. She said she “placed her hand on [his] wrist to push the gun in a downward position. At this time [Dominguez-Armendariz] fired one shot and [Gamez-Lazoya] fired several rounds at [Domingues-Armendariz],” according to the statement of probable cause. She then told police she and her husband left in separate vehicles and called 911 to report that a man had been shot.
The statement goes on to say that when police interviewed Gamez-Lazoya’s daughter, she had an audio recording of the altercation, in which only three gunshots could be heard, contradicting the statement
from Gamez-Lazoya’s wife that Dominguez-Armendariz fired the first round. She admitted that she couldn’t be sure who shot first.
The statement says a .45-caliber handgun and six 9mm shell casings were found at the crime scene. Dominguez-Armendariz was found with an extra .45-caliber magazine in his empty holster, but no empty .45-caliber shell casings were found on the scene.
On April 2, the lead case agent was contacted by New Mexico State Police in Santa Fe and told that Gamez-Lazoya had approached officers at an Allsups and began confessing to the murder.
During a later interview, Gamez-Lazoya admitted to shooting Dominguez-Armendariz, but initially claimed that it was Dominguez-Armendariz who shot first — when questioned further, he said he could not remember, according to the statement of probable cause. He admitted to shooting Dominguez-Armendariz from approximately 10 feet away, then “possibly at close range,” read the statement. New Mexico State Police issued a news release on Tuesday (April 5) alleging that Gamez-Lazoya “fired an additional shot striking Cleofas’ head at close range.”
Gamez-Lazoya told officers he dropped his white Subaru and the 9mm handgun off with his brother and swapped vehicles. As of press time, no charges were filed against Gamez-Lazoya’s brother.
Gamez-Lazoya has several traffic-related violations and one DWI conviction, but has never been charged with a felony in New Mexico, court records indicate. In 2021, he was charged with abuse of a child, driving with a revoked license and driving with an unrestrained child, but all the charges were dismissed.
The case has been bound over to District Court, and the state has filed a motion for a pre-trial detention with a no-bond hold. Gamez-Lazoya is set to appear before 8th Judicial District Judge Jeffrey Shannon on Thursday (April 7) at 9 a.m. for a pretrial detention and preliminary hearing.