Following an hours-long standoff with SWAT, a man was taken into custody after opening fire on APD officers responding to a domestic dispute late Wednesday night, injuring one officer.
When a man fired three rounds at officers setting a perimeter around the scene of a domestic violence dispatch, one officer was hit in the shoulder and taken by ambulance to UNMH.
Facing charges of aggravated battery on a police officer, false imprisonment, child abuse and misdemeanor domestic violence charges, Maximilano Villegas, 38, was booked into the county jail Thursday morning.
The officers who arrived on scene made contact with a female who said the suspect was agitated and was in possession of weapons inside the residence, Officer Daren DeAguero said.
When the officers arrived, a child was in in the house with the suspect, whom he later released to the Crisis Negotiation Team at the scene.
After releasing the child, the man exited the residence with a weapon as police were establishing a perimeter around the property, DeAguero said.
“As they were releasing the child, he came out with the rifle,” he said. “He went back into the house and at that point, we set up a perimeter around the residence, and shots were fired at the officers who were setting up the perimeter in the backyard.”
DeAguero said the suspect was “already agitated” and the situation “started escalating.”
“Luckily we had our negotiators on scene, our CNT officers, and they were able to get him to release the child,” he said.
SWAT was called immediately after the officer was shot and the perimeter was extended.
The CNT tried to calm the situation by talking with the suspect to hopefully resolve the situation peacefully.
“As our negotiations were going on, we did release some gas into the residence, and at that point he did come out and surrender,” DeAguero said.
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No officers fired shots at the suspect.
The suspect was examined by paramedics and taken into police custody after he was determined uninjured.
Celia Raney is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Celia_Raney.
