New Mexico State Police and US Marshals arrested a Colorado man wanted for a shooting over a property dispute in Custer County that left two men and a woman dead and another woman in critical condition.
Hanme K. Clark, 45, was taken into custody on a warrant charging him with three counts of first degree murder, Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith said.
Clark’s victims were identified as Rob Geers, 63, his wife Beth Wade Geers, 73, and James Daulton, 58. The wounded victim was Daulton’s wife, Patty Daulton, the Custer County Sheriff’s Office said.
A fifth person was on the scene but ran to safety and was not shot, Smith said.
“All of the deceased are involved with a property dispute involving the suspect,” said Smith, who told reporters there had been an ongoing court battle between neighbors and the suspect about an easement on the suspect’s property that neighbors have the legal right to drive on.
The shooting took place on the Geers’ property, the sheriff said. Both the Geers and the Daulton properties border Clark’s property.
After the shooting, Clark fled with his girlfriend in his Dodge Ram pickup truck. Investigators learned he may have been heading for New Mexico, and he was found near Albuquerque by state troopers there. No one was injured in the arrest.
Smith said he wasn’t clear on the girlfriend’s status or her role in the incident, but “we have some questions for her.” The extradition process has begun, he said.
The sheriff’s office said it was called to the scene of the shooting — along a “property line in a wooded area” — at about 1 p.m. on Monday and that it took more than 20 minutes for deputies to reach the scene because of the “remote” location. First responders made a “high risk entry to the crime scene,” Smith said, because they had no idea if the shooter was still there.
The truck was spotted at a Walmart in neighboring Chaffee County after the shooting, where an occupant bought several items. Authorities in Custer and Chaffee Counties issued shelter in place orders for nearby residents.
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[Featured image: Hanme Clark/Custer County Sheriff’s Office]
