By Roger Lanse

Lawrence Montoya (Photo courtesy Grant County Detention Center)

A Silver City Police Department officer was dispatched to Gila Regional Medical Center Saturday, June 20, at approximately 1:17 p.m., in reference to a stabbing victim who had been dropped off by an unknown male.

When the officer arrived he was told by GRMC personnel that when the victim, later identified as Mark Acosta, 19, of Silver City, arrived at the hospital he was deceased, but that medical staff were able to revive him. The officer, according to an incident report, observed the victim lying on a hospital bed "covered in blood," with numerous hospital staff around him.

In the meantime, police documents state, a Grant County Sheriff's Department deputy made contact with the vehicle and its driver, Fredrick "Ricky" Acosta, who had dropped off the victim at the hospital. Ricky Acosta told officers that he was in his residence at the Stage Stop Trailer Park on Market Street, when he looked out the window and saw his brother on his knees holding his throat. According to police documents, Ricky Acosta said that he placed his bleeding brother in his vehicle and transported him to GRMC, on the way calling the Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority to inform them of the incident. The turquoise GMC in which the victim was transported to the hospital was seized to obtain a search warrant for the vehicle.

At approximately 3:30 p.m., witnesses identified the perpetrator of the stabbing as Lawrence Montoya, 40, of Silver City.

At about 5 p.m., the incident report states, officers were informed that the victim was going to be flown out of Silver City to an unknown hospital.

On Sunday, June 21, the arrest report stated, SCPD officers made contact with Montoya at GRMC, where he had gone for injuries and was later released. He was placed under arrest and booked into the Grant County Detention Center under a $50,000 cash-only bond out of Magistrate Court. As of Wednesday, June 24, Montoya remains in custody, according to GCDC personnel.