Prosecutors are seeking to have an Española man held without bail pending trial after he allegedly threatened to kill his grandfather with a shotgun and, in a different incident, held the shotgun to his cousin’s head.
New Mexico State Police Officer Ashlea Lujan charged Antonio Atencio, 31, on May 12, with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault and possession of a controlled substance.
Lujan wrote in a criminal complaint for Atencio’s arrest that she was called to the house on Lower San Pedro Road, after the grandfather told dispatchers that his grandson was threatening to kill him and was going to get a shotgun from behind the house.
When police officers arrived at the compound, they found the man standing outside the property and said his grandson was in a camper behind the house. State Police officers surrounded the camper and called for Atencio to come out to no avail.
A woman who is Atencio’s first cousin and the man’s granddaughter, told officers she was doing laundry outside when an argument broke out between the two men and she heard Atencio state he would kill his grandfather, Lujan wrote.
“(Cousin) then disclosed in the early morning on May 12, 2025, at approximately 3:00 AM, she was inside of Antonio’s camper when he held a black shot gun to her head as she was standing up,” Lujan wrote. “(Cousin) stated Antonio held the gun to her head and Antonio pushed her outside of the camper and she left.”
The mother of Atencio’s children arrived at the scene and called him for police, who saw him pacing inside the camper, and eventually he came out. After refusing to be handcuffed and stating he has a back injury, officers searched him, found what they believed to be methamphetamine and arrested him. While he spoke to one officer, what he said was not included in any court documents.
Lujan did not write if any guns were ever found or seized.
Two days after his arrest, prosecutor Stu Dehaan filed to have Atencio held without bail pending trial. As grounds, Dehaan listed the charges against Atencio and wrote that Atencio is a danger to the victims, himself and the community. He did not list any other reasons.
Atencio has two arrests going back to 2021, for breaking and entering, pleaded down to the misdemeanor attempt to commit a felony: possession of a controlled substance and a resisting arrest charge in 2024, which was dismissed.
Dehaan wrote that it is “clear” that Atencio will not comply with court orders and will commit new offenses, based on the “nature of this incident” and his criminal history, but court records do not show any pre-trial violations in his past cases and Dehaan presented no evidence that Atencio will, or has in the past, disobeyed court orders.
A combined preliminary and dangerousness hearing was set for two hours on May 27 in Tierra Amarilla District Court.