By Roger Lanse

Silver City Police Officers were dispatched at about 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 24, to the 500 block of N. Texas Street, in reference to an unwanted subject complaint. Dispatch informed the officer that a caller advised that an individual was in his residence and was refusing to leave. When officers arrived the caller was standing in his doorway holding a black revolver above his head with the barrel pointing upward. The caller, who was the resident, was advised to put the weapon down, which he did immediately, according to a police report.

Officers then caught up with the suspected male intruder, who "smelled heavily of alcohol," and while placing him in investigative detention, the man kept repeating "He shot me, He shot me." The officer observed blood on his upper right chest, the report said.

The resident told police, according to the report, the man began talking with the resident, who became agitated and decided he didn't want the man there any longer, but the man said he wasn't leaving. At this point, the resident pulled a .45 Long Colt handgun from a holster hanging on the living room door, the report said, and again told the man to leave or he would be forced to defend himself.

The resident claimed the man was much bigger than he and because he was disabled didn't think he could defend himself unarmed. When the man closed the distance between himself and the resident, the resident told police, according to the report, the man slapped him in the face, at which time the resident discharged his firearm striking the man in the right upper chest.

EMS was called and, according to the report, they told the officers the wounded man would be taken straight to Whiskey Creek Airport to be airlifted immediately to El Paso's Thomason hospital. Officers secured the revolver and obtained a search warrant for the residence.