Las Cruces man held after allegedly attempting 'suicide by cop'

LAS CRUCES — What started as a family argument over a ride to the mall devolved into a dangerous encounter with police last week in which an officer ducked for cover and fired his weapon outside a home in Las Cruces.

Dominic Martinez, 21, was charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer using a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and assault on a household member following his arrest on July 27.

In an encounter recorded on lapel camera, Martinez emerged from an apartment with a weapon resembling a 9mm pistol, later determined to be a replica BB gun. Family members witnessing the incident affirmed the officer’s account that Martinez pointed the weapon at him.

At a news conference Thursday, Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story said Martinez admitted he wanted police officers to kill him.

Police responded to a mid-afternoon 911 call in which a man reported he was having a fight with his mother, intimating it was about to become “physical” and repeatedly demanding emergency responders come. During the call, the man — later identified as Martinez — stated he had a gun and threatened to shoot his mother before disconnecting the call.

Story said the first officer arrived at the address one minute after dispatch, where he heard yelling from inside an apartment. Story played footage of the encounter from the officer’s body camera. Alone at the scene, the unidentified officer asks onlookers to have Martinez leave the apartment with his hands raised.

Martinez’s exit from the building is obscured in the video because of the officer’s position. Abruptly, the officer draws his weapon and yells, “Stop!” before firing four or five shots while backing farther away from the residence and yelling, “Drop the gun! Drop it!”

Martinez, who was not hit by the gunfire, is seen lying on the ground between two vehicles, with the weapon on the ground close by as other officers arrive. Adding to the confusion are bystanders, including a distraught woman moving between the officer and Martinez as the incident unfolds.

After Martinez is handcuffed and moved toward a police squad car, as an officer asks him if he was wounded, Martinez appears to begin struggling, thrashing his body before officers push him to the ground and he lies still.

Story said that Martinez was restrained with a “wrap” security system and later confessed that his actions with the gun and in resisting arrest were intended to cause the officers to harm him — a “suicide by cop” scenario Story attributed to a mental health crisis.

The chief then listed a number of encounters involving Martinez and law enforcement, dating back to when Martinez was a minor, involving assault, battery and threats of suicide as well as several reported attempts.

Martinez’s mother filed a domestic violence petition the following day stating that the fight began with Martinez insisting that she give him a ride to the mall, becoming verbally and physically abusive when she refused and threatening suicide shortly before police arrived at the scene.

State District Judge Rebecca Duffin issued a temporary restraining order barring Martinez from having contact with her before a hearing later this month.

Martinez is being held without bond at the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

The shooting remains under investigation by a task force comprising officers from the LCPD, New Mexico State Police, Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office and New Mexico State University police.

“This case really highlights some of the holes or the gaps in our system, especially when it comes to mental health,” Story told the news conference. “There’s clearly several opportunities for intervention and we haven’t been able to get Mr. Martinez to a place where we can kind of stop this cycle that’s been escalating over time, to where he’s trying to kill himself and ultimately use us as a mechanism to do that.”

At a pretrial detention hearing Friday morning, prosecutors argued that Martinez could endanger the public with further attempts to force police to use deadly force against him, based on the July 27 incident and previous threats of violence.

Story indicated authorities might seek a civil commitment mandating mental health treatment.

Prosecutors indicated they would seek a grand jury indictment. In the meantime, a preliminary hearing is scheduled for next week.

An earlier version of this story mistakenly described Judge Rebecca Duffin as a county magistrate judge.