Prosecutors are seeking to have a Chimayó man held without bail pending trial in two cases. He’s accused of repeatedly shooting in the area during an incident in March, after his neighbor fired a warning shot at his dog, and another case in April, where he allegedly walked down the road, firing a rifle.
Prosecutor Kent Wahlquist filed motions on April 17 to have Erik Roybal, 33, held without bail following the shooting incident on April 15, writing that Roybal “poses a danger of gun violence to random members of the community.”
The two combined preliminary and dangerousness hearings were set for Friday (5/1).
In the first case, on March 13, Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy John Greene charged Roybal, also known as Erik Anthony Roybal, with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
In the second case, on April 15, New Mexico State Police Officer Damian Romo charged Roybal with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count each of felon in possession of a firearm and negligent use of a deadly weapon.
Dog Incident
Greene wrote in a criminal complaint that Matthew Martinez was in his yard with his partner, Heather Trujillo, and he was holding his 10-month-old son when Roybal’s dog “came into their yard and was approaching them aggressively” so he pulled out his gun and “fired off a round in the ground to scare the dog away.”
After that, Roybal allegedly came out of his house and “fired a couple rounds off while yelling at Mr. Martinez and Mrs. Trujillo and began approaching them,” Greene wrote.
They told the deputy they were scared of their neighbor because they didn’t know what he was going to do after they fired the first shot near his dog, and got into their car. Roybal got his dog and started walking down the road with the gun, he wrote.
Another neighbor who called in the shooting, said he saw Martinez say something to Roybal about his dog and then he heard a gunshot, followed by a few more shots coming from Roybal’s property, before he saw Roybal walking down the road with an “AK-style rifle,” Greene wrote.
This account contradicts Martinez’s, who told Greene nothing about talking to Roybal before shooting in the ground next to his dog. Greene did not write if he saw the dog, or how big it was, or if it was aggressive toward him.
At Roybal’s house, he told Greene that he was walking his dog when his neighbor started firing, so he fired two shots in the air with his shotgun and continued walking around the neighborhood, he wrote.
In that case, he was released but ordered not to possess any guns.
Second Incident
State Police were sent to State Highway 76 near County Road 100 on April 15 for a report of a man firing his gun. He found him walking on the side of the road, holding an “AR-15 style rifle” and ordered him to put it down, which he did. He was also armed with a pistol. Romo found casings on the road, he wrote in court documents.
In surveillance footage, Romo can be seen walking, gunshots heard and muzzle flash can be seen. No motive, reasoning, yelling or precipitating incident is listed in Romo’s report.
It was following Roybal’s arrest on April 15, that Wahlquist filed the motions to have him held without bail in both cases.