ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO – A man believed to have stabbed at least 11 people during the day Sunday has been arrested by Albuquerque police. Tobias Gutierrez, 43, was booked into the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center without bond Monday night.
A Sunday evening tweet from the APD stated “Officers are investigating 7 possible scenes — stretching from Downtown to Central and Wyoming — with reports of 11 stabbing victims.”
Arresting officers also located a knife near the suspect and seized it as evidence, according to APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos. Gutierrez was expected in court Tuesday but did not appear. A court spokesperson said that the judge was told that he was unable to appear due to an undisclosed medical issue.
Gutierrez allegedly spent the day Sunday terrorizing and attacking citizens at various locations across the city, including a gas station, apartment complex and a homeless encampment. Witnesses reported a man who resembled Gutierrez trying to stab and cut people with a knife.
Two of his victims are currently in critical condition, and he is charged with at least two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in those attacks. Police have not been able to determine a motive for what appears to be a string of random attacks.
New Mexico does not have a codified “Stand Your Ground’ law on the books, but the state’s supreme court has held that there is no duty to retreat before using force in public. In addition, New Mexico’s General Jury Instruction on Self-Defense UJI 14-5190 states that “A person who is threatened with an attack need not retreat. In the exercise of his right of self-defense, he may stand his ground and defend himself.”
The state’s laws also allow open carry of firearms by anyone over 19 who may legally posses a firearm, and they are a ‘shall issue’ state for concealed handgun licenses for persons over 21 who complete the licensing requirements. If one of the victims, or a bystander who witnessed an attack, had been armed and used their firearm to stop Gutierrez, it would have prevented him from adding to his toll.
