EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – A 35-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly shooting and killing a 29-year-old man and barricading himself in a Las Cruces motel, the Las Cruces Police Department (LCPD) said in a news release.
LCPD said Pancho Garcia, 35, was arrested and charged with an open count of murder for the shooting death of 29-year-old Juan Javier Lujan Garces.
Garcia was then booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center and is initially being held without a bond, LCPD said.
LCPD said that shortly after 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, June 10, Las Cruces police and fire were dispatched to reports of shots fired at the intersection of Picacho Avenue and 17th Street.
First responders arrived to find a Lujan Garces in his vehicle with at least one gunshot wound. They attempted life-saving measures, but Lujan Garces was pronounced dead at the scene, LCPD said.
LCPD said that after the shooting, Garcia barricaded himself in a first-floor room of a motel on the 1700 block of West Picacho Avenue.
LCPD set up a perimeter and activated its SWAT and Hostage Negotiation Teams (HNT), who made multiple attempts to contact Garcia, according to the news release.
At about 11:30 p.m., SWAT members breached a window of the suspect’s room. Shortly after, Garcia exited the room and was taken into custody. No shots were fired by police, and no other injuries were reported, LCPD said.
LCPD said residents who live within proximity to the suspect’s room were asked to evacuate, and others, who resided further away, were encouraged to shelter in place.
In addition, a portion of West Picacho Avenue was temporarily closed to traffic during the investigation. Picacho Avenue has since been cleared and is open to traffic, LCPD said.
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