Man In Custody After SWAT Standoff

Support-group members scrambled when a man walked into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Las Cruces, decked out in army fatigues and body armor, waving a loaded gun.

Las Cruces Police and the SWAT team were confronted with a 37 year-old man waiving a small gun at Arid Club at 334 Griggs Ave.

After about an hour the SWAT team fired two non lethal beanbag rounds which knocked him down. According to police a taser was used to subdue the man, but could not penetrate his body armor. Then, police said, they unleashed a police k-9. The man managed to fight off the police dog and that’s when the swat team moved in to disarm him.

The man has been placed under arrest and taken to a local hospital where he is getting treated for his wounds from the dog bite.

Brandon Smith’s mother belongs Arid Club. He said that, while the standoff was frightening, it could have ended in tragedy.

“(My mom) could have been here at that moment, we could of all been here at that moment and it could of been a fire of bullets everywhere,” said Smith. “Who know how many lives could of been taken tonight?”