Police Briefs

Police Investigate death of man found in apartment ponding area

Las Cruces police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found Saturday afternoon, partially submerged, in a ponding area at an apartment complex.

About 3 p.m. Saturday, July 25, Las Cruces police were dispatched to a welfare check after a passerby spotted what appeared to be a man lying face-down in a ponding area at Casa Bella Apartments, 2306 S. Espina St. Officers arrived and determined the man was deceased.

Police learned the man was a 31-year-old resident of the apartment complex. His identity is being withheld at this time.

Rain from a Friday evening storm left the ponding area with about 3-4 feet of water at its deepest. The 31-year-old man was found clothed with no obvious signs of life-threatening injuries. His body was sent to the New Mexico medical investigator’s office for autopsy.

At this time, police do not have reason to believe that foul play was involved in the man’s death. However, the investigation is ongoing. Police are asking for any information that can help determine the man’s whereabouts Friday evening and his cause of death.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 575-526-0795.

Man suspected of discharging handgun in Legends West neighborhood

The man suspected of discharging a firearm from a moving vehicle in a residential neighborhood on Saturday has been arrested.

Emilio Daniel Palacios, 28, of the 5900 block of Desert Plum Lane, in unincorporated Dona Ana County, is charged with one count of shooting at or from a motor vehicle and one count of tampering with evidence. Both counts are fourth-degree felonies.

Shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday, July 25, Las Cruces police were dispatched to the report of a loud party in the area of Bolack Drive and San Lorenzo Avenue in the Legends West neighborhood. While completing that call, LCPD officers heard gunfire coming from an area just south of their location. As the officers made their way to where the gunfire was coming from, they came into contact with a vehicle traveling toward them at a high rate of speed.

The offices stopped the vehicle that was occupied by three men, including Palacios as the front seat passenger. The vehicle itself was a maroon Ford sedan, reportedly belonging to Palacios, with fictitious Texas license plates.

Officers ordered the three men from the vehicle and took them into temporary custody for investigative purposes. In plain sight from outside the vehicle, officers observed ammunition and a portion of a firearm near the front-passenger seat.

Upon further investigation, Las Cruces police detectives learned that Palacios fired multiple rounds into the air from the vehicle as it traveled along San Miguel Avenue. No injuries were reported.

Palacios was arrested and booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center where he is initially being held without bond. No charges have been filed against the driver or the backseat passenger of the vehicle.