2 Officers Injured in Shootout at New Mexico Home Facing Foreclosure

www.alamogordonews.com...

2 Officers Injured in Shootout at New Mexico Home Facing Foreclosure

Canyon standoff
Two Otero County Sheriff's deputies injured in shootout
Alamogordo Daily News
By Duane Barbati, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/31/2009 12:00:00 AM MST

Southern New Mexico SWAT teams continued their standoff late Friday with the occupants of a home 10 miles northeast of Alamogordo after an Otero County Sheriff's deputy was shot at while trying to serve an eviction notice around 11 a.m. on Lower Cottonwood Canyon Road, a sheriff's spokesman said.

Otero County Sheriff's Deputy John Dalton said negotiators from the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Department and the Las Cruces Police Department were talking to the occupants.

"We have SWAT from Doña Ana," Dalton said. "They (the people in the house) were shooting at officers with rifles. There's been all kinds of information coming from inside the house because we've had conversations with the occupants. We've also had observations from officers around the house."

Dalton said investigators are trying to determine which information is accurate after the standoff is finished.

"We've had negotiators talking to the people in the home since noon," Dalton said. "Negotiators are still in the process of talking to the occupants."

Capt. Leon Ledbetter, of the Otero County Sheriff's Department, said two deputies were injured by flying glass after a windshield was shot by someone firing a weapon from inside the home.

"They hadn't even gotten up to the house yet (to serve the eviction papers)," Dalton said. "That's when shots started coming from the house."

Deputies drove up to the gate around 11:15 a.m., he said. The Otero County Sheriff's Department is not releasing the names of the occupants of the home at this time. Dalton said there is more than one and less than five people still in the home.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents, New Mexico Department of Public Safety, Doña Ana County Sheriff's Department and New Mexico State Police initially responded to the area of Laborcita Canyon and Lower Cottonwood Canyon roads after the shots were fired.

Las Cruces Police Department and the state police stationed armored vehicles around the perimeter of the house during the standoff.

*sigh*
Gonna see a lot more of these stories...

It's beggining- the seeds for Martial Law.

I made this post on this thread.

Very interesting, since this is a conspiracy board, I offer this: Are the fires of unrest being fanned, with those in the higher-ups encouraging people to squat in their homes?

Has anyone seen those adverts in which real estate gurus (thieves) are offering houses for hundreds or 1-2 thousands of dollars? Some guy buys a cheapie house, but surprise- former homeowners who had left their homes to the banks now decide to come back and squat in their former homes only to find some robber baron has sold their house from under them.

What do they do? Do they quietly take it and go away, or will they call shenanigans?

Cue Martial Law.

The government could easily slap the banks down and completely readjust mortgages/ forgive a certain percentage of a person's debts- BUT NO. They are instead telling people to squat and cause trouble, maybe even shoot the police when they come to kick them out?

S&F for your post, dbriefed

Maybe these homeowners were watching the news where the Sen. from Indiana (i think it was Indiana) televised her opinion that people in foreclosure should claim squatters rights.

The Senator did mention getting an attorney BEFORE claiming squatter rights. This article was pretty brief with info and didn't mention the occupants' history. Leaves me wondering....and hungering for more info.

I'm on the side of the home owners, btw. WTH was a SWAT team called in???

On a side note....Did anyone else noticed the name of that reporting sheriff....it's Dalton....as in THE DALTON GANG of Kansas. Almost right out of the history books. "Cept this time the bandit is wearing the sheriffs badge.

reply to post by star in a jar


AHA! The Rep for Ohio made this statement.

Originally posted by star in a jar
It's beggining- the seeds for Martial Law.

I made this post on this thread.

Very interesting, since this is a conspiracy board, I offer this: Are the fires of unrest being fanned, with those in the higher-ups encouraging people to squat in their homes?

Has anyone seen those adverts in which real estate gurus (thieves) are offering houses for hundreds or 1-2 thousands of dollars? Some guy buys a cheapie house, but surprise- former homeowners who had left their homes to the banks now decide to come back and squat in their former homes only to find some robber baron has sold their house from under them.

What do they do? Do they quietly take it and go away, or will they call shenanigans?

Cue Martial Law.

The government could easily slap the banks down and completely readjust mortgages/ forgive a certain percentage of a person's debts- BUT NO. They are instead telling people to squat and cause trouble, maybe even shoot the police when they come to kick them out?

I hear what you're sayin'. I can almost buy the conspiracy that the PTB are spreading rogue advice only to turn around and stick martial law to us. BUT....the Ohio State Rep. looked verrry damn angry on BEHALF of defaulting home-owners.

I remember her also stating that the home-owner should contact an attorney for Squatter Rights. Would this make a difference when it comes time for the sheriff to come around? I don't know.

Any attorneys on ATS????

This was not because he couldn't pay. This is because Miguel choose not to pay. Miguel was taking in more money each month in disability income than most people in New Mexico make.

He choose 4 years ago not to pay his mortgage. He threatened to kill everyone in the canyon - including my parents. He threatened to kill all law enforcement that he could. He threatened to kill unarmed people on BLM land near his house. He claimed to be a Vietnam veteran - which he was not. He was discharged as a army MP for being mentally unstable.

Wow. This is likely to become more common as the economy continues to take a dive off that very, very tall debt cliff. I can't tell you how sorry I am to hear of this kind of desperation. But I expect to see this getting worse.

As expected, it didn't end up well. They surrounded the house with 100 cops, and SWAT used a robot to enter the house. A couple was in the home, the man was found dead, and the woman who was wearing a bulletproof vest was dragged out of the house by the swat robot.

www.alamogordonews.com...

One man dead in eviction dispute
Standoff over
Alamogordo Daily News
By Duane Barbati, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/01/2009 12:00:00 AM MST

New Mexico State Police Sergeant Andrew Tingwall and 12th Judicial... (Gidal Kaiser/Daily News)
Police are still investigating the Lower Cottonwood Canyon Road standoff that ended Saturday with one person dead and a woman being arrested, a New Mexico State Police spokesman said.

Sgt. Andrew Tingwall said the woman, whom police would not identify, was heavily armed and wearing a bulletproof vest. She was arrested and charged with assault with intent to commit a violent felony on a police officer.

"Additional charges may be filed against the woman," Tingwall said. "At approximately 2 a.m., SWAT officers made an approach of the residence behind a Doña Ana County bomb robot. The approaching officers discovered that there was a male subject with a rifle lying deceased behind a vehicle."

Twelfth Judicial District Attorney Diana Martwick said an arraignment date for the woman has not been set at this time.

"At this time, we're not releasing the names until family members have been notified," Martwick said. "We will probably be releasing the names tomorrow (Sunday). At this time, we're uncertain as to the cause of the man's death."

Capt. Leon Ledbetter, of the Otero County Sheriff's Department, said Friday two deputies were injured by flying glass after a windshield was shot by someone firing a weapon from inside the home.

Martwick said she had no comment on the condition of the officers until she had all the information about the standoff.

She said an estimated 100 law enforcement officers were at the scene.

Tingwall said SWAT officers entered thehouse. "The officers came into contact with the woman in the house," Tingwall said. "The female was wearing a ballistics vest and was unresponsive to officers. She would not show officers her hands."

He said officers decided to use the robot to grasp her ankle and pull her out of the house....

My family had some contact with Mike, and his neighbors are family friends. He was extremely disturbed (we received many, well, crazy Emails from him) and even filed an enormous and very convoluted lawsuit against almost everybody he came into contact with in the area. His wife also had psychological issues and attempted suicide more than once I believe.

This is not something that should be taken as part of a greater trend, it's simply a very disturbed couple that went too far off the deep end and somehow ended up justifying to themselves opening fire on police, which predictably didn't end well.