Doña Ana County Sheriff’s detectives identified the 24-year-old man who led law enforcement officers on two separate pursuits after allegedly burglarizing two homes where he reportedly fired shots at one homeowner and assaulted another.
According to court documents, Eduardo Merino drove a stolen vehicle to a home in the 4200 block of Sotol Drive Tuesday afternoon. Upon his arrival, Merino allegedly traded in the shoes he was wearing for a pair of the homeowner’s boots. He also attempted to take at least one firearm. The couple who live at the residence reportedly returned home and interrupted Merino, who reportedly fired at least one shot towards the male homeowner. His wife reportedly called 911, telling dispatchers that an unknown vehicle was in her driveway and an unidentified Hispanic male was inside the home, reportedly not wearing a shirt.
Merino fled the residence on Sotol, leading sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed pursuit northbound on Interstate 25, at one point crossing into oncoming southbound traffic. Merino reportedly exited the interstate on Triviz and crashed the vehicle into a light pole near the Omni Apartment complex. He then fled on foot and entered a home on Payne Street, where he assaulted a 23-year-old woman inside the home, forcing her into a bathroom and demanding to know where the keys to her vehicle were.
Detectives say Las Cruces Police officers trailed Merino in the victim’s vehicle from the residence on Payne, taking him into custody near the intersection of Panlener and Solano.
The female victim from the second assault was transported to a Las Cruces-area hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
Merino was arrested and transported to the Doña Ana County Detention Center, where he is being held without bond on charges of breaking and entering, aggravated burglary, aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon, larceny of a firearm, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle, larceny, two counts of aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, armed robbery and kidnapping.
Information from Doña Ana County