An 85-year-old Moriarty man faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly threatening his adult sons with a knife during a domestic disturbance last month, according to a criminal complaint filed in Torrance County Magistrate Court.
The man was charged following an incident on Nov. 30, at a residence on Irone Avenue in Moriarty. According to the complaint, a Moriarty Police Officer responded to a report of a domestic disturbance involving an alleged assault with a knife at approximately 6:21 p.m.
The complaint states that one of the man’s sons told police his father became aggressive while they were in the kitchen. The son reported that his father retrieved a knife from a kitchen drawer and pointed it at him while making threatening remarks, according to the complaint.
The son told police he felt his life was in danger when the knife was pointed at his face, the complaint states. After the suspect initially put the knife back in the drawer, he allegedly retrieved it again and attempted to stab his son in the neck. The son said he used a table and chair to defend himself and his brother, according to the document.
A second son corroborated the account and told police the father pushed a heavy table against him, pinning him against a wall during the incident, the complaint states.
The suspect’s wife, who was present at the residence, told police she was in the bathroom during the altercation and heard loud noises, including the sound of a table being overturned. She reported seeing the father holding an object with a brown handle, but could not confirm it was a knife, according to the complaint. She also told police her husband had been increasingly losing his temper, but denied feeling unsafe around him.
When interviewed separately, the father denied threatening his sons with a knife and claimed he only had a fork in his hand while eating, the complaint states. He also denied pushing the table and stated that his sons were the aggressors and had overturned the table themselves.
Police searched the kitchen with the wife’s consent and located knives in a drawer and on a butcher block, but no knife matching the description provided by the sons was immediately identified, according to the complaint.
Due to the man’s age and the nature of the allegations, the District Attorney’s office was contacted. Reyes was issued a criminal summons and released on-site. The sons were advised to stay away from the residence to prevent further escalation.
Each count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is a fourth-degree felony under New Mexico law.