AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers have given final approval to allowing people carry handguns without a license, and the background check and training that go with it. The Republican-dominated Legislature approved the measure Monday, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott. The governor has said he will sign it despite the objections from law enforcement groups
Continue Reading
DOÑA ANA COUNTY, New Mexico — A 6-six-year-old bull terrier who survived a violent stabbing attack last December will start a new chapter of his life this week. On Monday morning, “Gucci” left for Bayou Animal Services in the Houston area. Because of the severity of his injuries, Dona Ana County officials say he has
Continue Reading
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A 55-year-old Las Cruces man was arrested Monday on accusations that he repeatedly raped a 5-year-old girl and made threats against her family to keep her silent about the sex abuse, police said. Manuel Olivas was charged with six felony counts including criminal sexual penetration of a minor and criminal
Continue Reading
CHAPARRAL, New Mexico – Federal prosecutors on Monday charged three Chaparral residents with operating a human smuggling operation that allegedly held migrants hostage for ransom payments from their families. Ricardo Arce, 40, Vicki Sowell, 35, and Jonathan Gonzalez, 34, are also accused of assaulting those they held hostage, sending videos of assaults to the victims’
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a retired federal law enforcement officer from El Paso who was put in a chokehold and wrestled to the ground at a VA hospital security checkpoint. (You can watch the incident in the video player above.) The justices did not comment
Continue Reading
UPDATE: Officials said Alejandro Alvarado Jr., the 2-year-old child that went missing from Amarillo, was later found and is safe. No further details were provided. ORIGINAL REPORT: AMARILLO, Texas — A statewide Amber Alert was issued in Texas Monday morning for a missing 2-year-old boy out of Amarillo, who authorities believe has been abducted and
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — A stabbing attack Sunday evening in an east El Paso neighborhood left a man seriously wounded. The stabbing happened around 5 p.m. in the 11000 block of Beachfront Drive, which was cordoned off by officers. Fire officials said the injured person was taken to a local hospital in serious condition, but
Continue Reading
OTERO COUNTY, New Mexico — A New Mexico animal advocacy group is offering a $10,000 reward to find the person(s) responsible for the shooting deaths of seven horses in recent months in a remote area of Otero County. The non-profit organization Animal Protection New Mexico said five of the slain horses were discovered in March,
Continue Reading
UPDATE, May 22: El Paso police said Saturday that a traffic fatality initially described as a pedestrian struck and killed was actually a deadly crash involving a car and a motorcycle, with the car driver believed to be under the influence of drugs at the time. It happened late Friday night in the 8100 block
Continue Reading
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Las Cruces police on Friday seized a large stash of mail believed to have been stolen over the last few weeks, possibly involving more than 200 victims across Dona Ana County. Investigators said they believe the mail was stolen from letterboxes and U.S. Postal Service cluster boxes in various parts
Continue Reading
El PASO, Texas — Montecillo is an up and coming area on El Paso’s west side, but after last Sunday’s hit and run which left one person dead, many are now questioning the safety of the area. Montecillo Boulevard has no speed limit signs, crosswalks or speed bumps, and up until Wednesday residents told ABC-7
Continue Reading
UPDATE: El Paso police late Friday released additional details about an early morning stabbing outside a Circle K gas station on the city’s east side. “During a heated altercation, 30–year-old Nestor Alfonso Chavez stabbed 23–year-old Drew Timothy Psihos as the couple was driving on Montwood,” detectives said in a statement. Psihos was hospitalized with serious
Continue Reading
UPDATE, May 21: A Mesquite woman was indicted Friday on felony charges for the death of her 5-month-old daughter. Prosecutors announced indictments against 23-year-old Danielle Lujan on charges of Child Abuse Resulting in Death and Intentional Child Abuse. Authorities said Lujan will remain held without bond in the Doña Ana County Detention Center while she
Continue Reading
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A 22-year-old Alamogordo man, who was out on bond for a drunk driving arrest just two days prior, is accused of being intoxicated yet again when he ran a stop sign and crashed his car into ambulance that was responding with lights and siren to an emergency call on Thursday
Continue Reading
UPDATE, May 21: Theresa Caballero, the attorney for Abderrazak Boukhatmi, the El Paso police officer accused of sexually assaulting two women, issued the following statement to ABC-7: “I was hired this week and have not had access to the police files yet. This is a serious accusation and we will be putting the State’s case
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — The family of a military veteran who was crushed to death by a car outside a south-central El Paso bar while reportedly trying to shield his wife from being run over is speaking out about what police are calling his “intentional” death. “You were my Batman,” says the sister of 33-year-old
Continue Reading
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Quintin Jones was executed by lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville on Wednesday night, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Jeremy Desel. Jones, 41, is the first inmate executed in the state of Texas since July 2020, and only the third person put to death in the
Continue Reading
CANUTILLO, Texas — An employee at Canutillo High School has been arrested by school district police on charges involving on-campus drug use, officials confirmed Wednesday. While Canutillo Independent School District administrators declined to identify the arrested employee, ABC-7 has learned the individual was a teacher. CISD said in a statement to ABC-7 that officers had
Continue Reading
UPDATE, May 19: A central El Paso mother charged with capital murder in the death of her 7-month-old baby son was granted bond on Wednesday afternoon. A judge set bail at $800,000 for 19-year-old Johnnette Dukes, who was being held in the downtown jail following her arrest in recent days. Police said they found the
Continue Reading
SUGAR LAND, Texas — A Texas man accused of torturing and killing four kittens had worked as a geometry teacher at a Houston-area high school before his arrest, the school district said. Graham Reid, 29, of Sugar Land, faces four counts of felony cruelty to non-livestock animals. He was arrested in late April, and the
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — A strange person spotted lurking around Loma Verde Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon prompted a delayed release of students for the day and a police response. Socorro Independent School District officials said students were being released to awaiting parents as police scoured the school building in an attempt to locate the
Continue Reading
ELIZABETH CITY, North Carolina — North Carolina sheriff’s deputies were “justified” in their fatal shooting of a Black man in April, a district attorney said Tuesday. District Attorney Andrew Womble said Andrew Brown Jr.’s actions caused deputies to believe it was necessary to use deadly force. Brown ignored deputies’ commands to stop and began to
Continue Reading
UPDATE, May 17: Socorro police on Monday released the identifies of a couple who were shot and killed over the weekend in their home, but they offered no details on what led up to the shootings or other information about their investigation. Officers responding to a gunfire call Sunday morning said they found 74-year-old Isabel
Continue Reading UPDATE, May 17: A motorist was being held Monday on $500,000 bond after a fatal pedestrian hit-and-run the prior night in west El Paso. Police said 25–year-old Alberto Escobar of El Paso was charged with accident involving death after he allegedly struck 29 –year-old Aristide John Freddi of Santa Teresa, New Mexico with his SUV.
Continue Reading
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico – The mayor of Las Cruces has honored the police officer responsible for taking down the man who killed a New Mexico State Police officer on Interstate 10 near Deming in February. At the Las Cruces City Council meeting on Monday afternoon, Mayor Ken Miyagishima presented Officer Adrian De La Garza
Continue Reading DALLAS, Texas — Dallas police are investigating the grisly killing of a 4-year-old boy who was found on a street this weekend. “A child was murdered through a violent act. We believe an edged weapon was used,” Dallas police Executive Assistant Chief Albert Martinez said. “Even us as police officers, we are shocked. We’re very
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — A person was seriously injured in a stabbing attack late Saturday afternoon in El Paso’s Lower Valley. It happened at a mobile home court located at 602 Lafayette Drive about 4:15 p.m. Authorities indicated the victim was stabbed three or four times and taken to the hospital in serious condition. There
Continue Reading
SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico — A man was acquitted Thursday on arson charges stemming from a 2018 fire that left an 8-year-old girl dead in Sunland Park. A judge dismissed multiple charges resulting from the deadly mobile home fire against Juan Carlos Holguin saying there was insufficient evidence linking him to the crime. The charges
Continue Reading
UPDATE, May 12: LORDSBURG, New Mexico — Two brothers, Lordsburg’s recently retired police chief and a current police detective, are suspected of defrauding the federal government by submitting bogus time sheets to receive grant payments. Those allegations are contained in federal court documents, obtained by ABC-7, that were filed in support of a search warrant
Continue Reading
UPDATE, May 13: A judge on Thursday granted release on $35,000 secured bond to a Las Cruces man facing 62 felony charges involving child crimes. Third District Court Judge Richard Jaquez rejected a request by prosecutors to keep Johnny Pacheco, 48, jailed until trial. Pacheco is accused of sexually assaulting a teen girl over a several
Continue Reading