DASO: Two Family Dollar employees shot during robbery

Justin Garcia Las Cruces Bulletin

One man has been jailed after deputies say he shot at two employees of a Vado store during an Oct. 28 robbery, according to the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office.

Ruben Trujillo, 37, faces criminal charges of armed robbery, aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and property damage. At the time of writing this article, he is still in prison.

DASO announced the arrest in a press release sent to local media on October 30 after Trujillo was arrested.

According to an affidavit outlining the officers’ case against Trujillo, most of the robbery was captured on camera and witnessed by two Family Dollar employees near the intersection of Vado Drive (Highway 227) and Highway 478.

Deputies said the incident started when the two employees were closing. They said a man wearing a gray hoodie, blue jeans and a black mask and armed with a handgun broke into the locked store by hitting the glass with a rock.

The two employees fled into an office when the man fired a bullet in their direction. One of the employees told police she heard the bullet ring past her head as they both hid under a table for cover.

Store security camera footage showed the man taking cash and a black box from under the cash register. The same footage also showed that the man had a tattoo of the number five on his neck and was walking with a slight limp.

Officers said they looked through a collection of inmate photos until they landed on Trujillo’s photo. There they noticed that he had a neck tattoo that read ‘575’.

According to the affidavit, Trujillo was arrested on Oct. 30 but refused to talk to police. However, deputies noted in the affidavit that Trujillo had a similar limp to that of the man in the video.

Officers also searched his home and vehicle, according to the affidavit, and found cash, a .45-caliber Hi-Point pistol and clothing matching those of the robber.

However, the affidavit states at this point that security camera footage was captured from a Dollar General, not a Family Dollar. There is no Dollar General store in the area where the robbery occurred.

Additionally, DASO said in the press release announcing the arrest that they had “collected evidence from other robberies that had occurred days earlier in the city of Las Cruces.” It is not clear from the affidavit what that evidence was and no additional charges have been filed at the time of this article’s publication.

Court records show prosecutors asked a judge to hold the Trujillo jail without bond. Their request sends the case to the 3^rd Judicial district court for a pre-trial detention hearing.

Prosecutors must argue that Trujillo is a danger to the community and that no condition of release, such as an ankle monitor or bond, could protect the community. That hearing did not have a set date at the time this article was written.

The Las Cruces Bulletin attempted to contact an attorney for Trujillo, but at the time of writing this article, none were listed.