Tuesday morning, the Las Cruces Police Department held a press conference at Las Cruces City Hall to provide an update on Patrol Officer Jonah Hernandez, who police say was killed while responding to a trespassing call on South Valley Drive Sunday evening.
Surrounded by law enforcement, city officials, and members of the community, Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story identified the alleged perpetrator of Sunday’s fatal stabbing as 29-year-old Armando Silva.
“When he arrived, Armando Silva immediately attacked [Officer Hernandez] with a large kitchen knife. For no reason whatsoever, Silva killed Officer Hernandez,” Story said. “A witness saw the unprovoked attack, retrieved a firearm from their vehicle, and confronted the murderer. Silva tried to attack the witness and was shot at least once. Silva later died from his injuries.”
Chief Story said Silva was unhoused at the time of the incident, and criticized New Mexico’s criminal justice system for failing to protect the city’s residents and his officers.
“Silva had a long history of violent crime and mental illness. This is just one agonizing reminder of the brokenness of the New Mexico criminal justice system. A system that should have protected our community from Silva, but instead allowed him to endanger us all,” he said.
Chief Story said it's not atypical for an officer to be alone when responding to reports of trespassing due to the volume of calls received by the department.
“Officers respond to approximately 500 calls every single day. I wish I could have two officers at every single call. And that’s something right now we’re encouraging officers to do for a number of reasons,” he said.
Standing by Chief Story’s side during the press conference was newly-elected Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez. A former fire chief, the mayor reiterated his support for first responders in the community.
Mayor Enriquez said he is in contact with city council members and other city officials in terms of implementing policies in Las Cruces that could prevent this type of tragedy from happening again, although he didn’t go into specifics about what those policies might be.
“We’re looking to do things at the local level. We want to stay in compliance, we want to obey all the laws. But we know that there are some things locally we can do to help our community to be safer,” he said. “We’re looking at making sure that repeat offenders are held accountable and that we hold people in compliance. And we’re not just having repeat offenders in the streets.”
According to Chief Story, the death of Officer Hernandez marks the first time in the history of the Las Cruces Police Department in which an officer lost his life in the line of duty. Story said that funeral services will be held in Hernandez’s hometown of El Paso at a date that’s to be determined.
