Documents: Fired ranch employee kills supervisor

Authorities investigating the killing of a ranch foreman in Berino arrested Sergio Meraz-Nevarez, 38, a criminal complaint states.

Meraz-Nevarez is charged with Homicide in the First Degree, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Shooting at or from a Moving Vehicle, and Tampering with Evidence.

He is accused of killing Jose Alfredo Armendariz in Berino, New Mexico on October 19, 2016. The 59-year-old Armendariz was a resident of Socorro, Texas, the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Armendariz was Meraz-Nevarez’s supervisor at the ranch where they worked.

Deputies Wednesday responded to calls of a gunshot victim at 448 Six Mile Road. Deputies arrived at an irrigation pump, where they found Armendariz lying on the ground, suffering from two gunshot wounds.

Armendariz was taken to Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, court documents state.

Ismael Rodriguez, who witnessed the shooting, told investigators he and Armendariz, the ranch foreman, arrived at the location to fix a pump at about 2:30 p.m.

While fixing the pump, Rodriguez said he saw a truck park right next to Armendariz’s truck. Rodriguez said he saw the driver of the truck point a gun in their direction.

Rodriguez said he ran away and heard two gunshots. When he returned, he found a wounded Armendariz lying face down on the ground. It appeared he had been shot in the back, Rodriguez told deputies.

Rodriguez called the ranch’s owner, Luis Perez, who arrived at the scene and called 911.

Las Cruces police officers called to the scene with a K-9 located Meraz-Nevarez nearby, a court document states. The alleged gunman abandoned his truck and was hiding in a nearby irrigation ditch, the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators said they recovered a Mexican passport identifying Meraz-Nevarez. The alleged gunman was later taken to a Border Patrol station where his identity was confirmed via a fingerprints database. Meraz-Nevarez was in the country legally, a court document states.

Investigators secured a search warrant for the alleged gunman’s pickup, where they allegedly found two spent .40 caliber bullet casings.

In a recorded interview with Dona Ana County sheriff’s deputies, Meraz-Nevarez said he was driving along Six Mile Road when he came across Rodriguez and Armendariz.

Meraz-Nevarez told deputies Armendariz yelled something and “made a gesture as though he was reaching for a gun on his hip.” At this point, Meraz-Nevarez allegedly told the deputies he took out his gun and fired twice in the direction of the men.

Meraz-Nevarez said he drove away and threw his gun out his truck’s window in the direction of a canal, a criminal complaint states. The document fails to mention whether investigators found the weapon.

Investigators later met with Elva C. Vasquez-Vasquez, who said her husband, Meraz-Nevarez, was fired October 18, 2016. The husband told the woman they would have to move out of their home because it belonged to the land owner.

Vasquez-Vasquez told investigators she had not seen her husband the day of the murder.