By KRWG News
Las Cruces – Las Cruces Police arrested a man who pulled a handgun during an early-morning fight in the parking lot of a University Avenue bar.
Arthur James "A.J." Saunders, 23, is charged with one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Saunders was booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center with bond set at $10,000.
At around 2:15 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 26, Las Cruces Police were called to the parking lot of Dublin's Street Pub, at 1745 E. University Ave., where the fight had occurred. Detectives learned that Saunders and others were asked by an employee of Dublin's to leave the parking lot as the establishment had closed for the evening.
Words were exchanged and a fight broke out between two men. As the fight progressed, detectives learned that Saunders retrieved a handgun from his pickup and pointed it in the direction of at least one of the men involved.
Bystanders witnessed Saunders with the gun and quickly disarmed him. Saunders and his friends then got into his truck and drove away. LCPD officers located Saunders a few minutes later at his residence on Senna Drive.
No shots were fired and no major injuries were reported as a result of the fight. The witness who took the handgun away from Saunders turned it over to a Dona Ana County Sheriff's deputy who was the first law enforcement officer to arrive at the scene.