By Roger Lanse

On Monday, Oct. 19, 2020, at approximately 1:35 a.m., Silver City police officers were dispatched to the Gila Regional Medical Center ER in reference to a male with a knife laceration to his head. According to a police report, the male, Jesse Hampton, 37, stated to officers that he was hanging out with others in the carport at a residence on N. Bennett Street when Lane, later identified as Lane Seth Lee, 26, of an Albuquerque address, grabbed a knife and hit him in the head with it. The victim was driven to the hospital by one of the men Hampton was hanging out with.

Witnesses stated Lee seemed okay and everyone was getting along fine when Lee, out of nowhere, grabbed a knife from the ground and hit Hampton with it. As officers continued to interview the witnesses, the witnesses indicated that Lee thought, after seeing a picture in the newspaper, that Hampton was involved in sex trafficking, even though he was told the picture in question was not of Hampton. One witness believed that Lee was possibly high when he attacked Hampton.

Officers recovered the knife used in the attack. SCPD Freddy Portillo told the Beat that an active arrest warrant for Lee has been issued.