By Laura Nesbitt
The Mountain View Telegraph
ESTANCIA, N.M. — Roman Isaac Trujillo, 21, appeared at his arraignment in a bright orange jumpsuit and handcuffs from the Torrance County Detention Facility on screen in front of Torrance County Magistrate Judge Steve Jones on Oct. 6.
Trujillo is being held at the correctional facility on a $50,000 cash only bond. He is charged with 20 crimes including the attempted murder of Sgt. Kenneth Groves, third in command in the Torrance County Sheriff’s Office.
"(Trujillo pointed) a 9 mm Ruger with a live hollowpoint round in the chamber at (Groves) with an intent to commit a willful, deliberate and premeditated killing while in the commission of other felony offenses,” stated the criminal complaint.
According to Groves:
Law enforcement officers chased Trujillo from the Echo Ridge area to a residential Moriarty neighborhood.
Trujillo “blew a tire out” and tried to run away from officers, Groves said.
Deputies found Trujillo when some residents told officers that he was hiding in an abandoned vehicle.
“I saw him in the back seat through the window. He was very uncooperative,” Groves said.
But after a brief struggle, the deputies took Trujillo first to the sheriff’s office and then to the Torrance County Detention Facility.
After some of the deputies left with Trujillo, other officers were given consent to search the vehicle and found the gun, according to the criminal complaint.
“I couldn’t figure out why this kid was trying to run from us. At that time, we only knew that his license was suspended and revoked,” Groves said.
Trujillo had not told officers his real name.
So Sgt. Groves went to reinterview Trujillo at the jail.
“During the interview he told me that he had had me in his sights and was going to shoot me. I asked him what kept him from pulling the trigger. That’s when he told me that he thought of his 4-yearold daughter,” Groves said.
At that point he also learned that Trujillo is a convicted felon.
Copyright 2008 Albuquerque Journal