Inset: (Dona Ana County Detention Center). Background: The residential area near where Lopez allegedly tried to kill himself in Las Cruces, N.M. (Google Maps).
A New Mexico mother”s love left her dead and put her son behind bars, according to law enforcement in the Land of Enchantment.
Lawrence Lopez, 32, stands accused of involuntary manslaughter for the death of 58-year-old Tina Lucero, according to the Las Cruces Police Department.
The violence occurred on the night of July 1, at the family’s home on Los Ranchitos Road in Las Cruces, a large city roughly equidistant between White Sands National Park and El Paso, Texas.
Lopez and his mother went out to dinner earlier that night, according to police documents obtained by El Paso-based Fox affiliate KFOX.
Other family members were also in attendance at the meal, according to law enforcement. The defendant allegedly relayed a series of paranoid beliefs, such as that he was being followed by vehicles and drones and that his phone had been hacked, law enforcement said.
After dinner and home by themselves, Lopez allegedly doubled down on his beliefs — with added concern that he felt his mother was not taking him seriously, according to the charging document.
Eventually, Lopez said he felt like dying, pulled out a gun, aimed it at his head and taunted his mother with the prospect of having to live with the image and knowledge of his would-be suicide, according to investigators who later spoke with the defendant, police said.
“I’m gonna make you remember this for the rest of your life,” the son allegedly told his mother. “You gotta see me shoot myself.”
After those comments, the mother leaped into action and went for the gun to disarm her son, the defendant allegedly told investigators. During the ensuing struggle, the gun went off, police said.
The bullet went through Lopez’s left hand and into his mother’s chest, according to law enforcement. The defendant himself then called 911 and his brother. The defendant’s sibling rushed over to the residence to perform CPR on their mother, but Lucero was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Lopez was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for his gunshot wound and then released before being arrested.
The defendant is being detained in the Dona Ana County Detention Center with no bond, jail records show.
