new mexico home invasion knife bat gun
Bigstock.

Sam Colt made people truly equal, as a pair of armed robbers learned the hard way when they forced their way into a Las Lunas, New Mexico home. The bad guy had a knife and his girlfriend/accomplice had an orange baseball bat. The homeowner, however, had a gun. He shot both the goblins.

Once shot, cops say the dynamic duo ran about 75 yards before collapsing. Both got ambulance rides to the local hospital for treatment. Sans the knife and the (safety orange?) baseball bat.

Stephen Benevides.  Courtesy NM State Police.

Stephen Benevides, 43, then received a free ride to jail where he now faces a slew of charges. His partner in crime, Brittany Torres, 34, will get the same upon release from the hostpital.

The Los Alamos Daily Post has the story:

State Police agents learned that Stephen Benevides, 43, and Brittany Torres, 34, were both armed with weapons when they knocked on the front door of a residence on Valencia Drive.

When the homeowner opened the door, Benevides and Torres forced their way into the residence demanding money from the homeowner. The homeowner was able to retrieve his personal weapon and fired several shots toward Benevides and Torres striking both of them. Benevides and Torres left the area on foot and were located on Canada Street.

…Benevides was booked into Valencia County Detention Center. He was charged with the following:

  • Aggravated Burglary 30-16-4A (2nd Degree Felony);

  • Attempt to commit a felony to wit Armed Robbery 30-28-1 (3rd Degree Felony);

  • Assault with the intent to commit a violent felony to wit Armed Robbery 30-3-3 (3rd Degree Felony); and

  • Conspiracy to commit a felony 30-28-2 (3rd Degree Felony).

Hopefully this Bonnie and Clyde pair will spend enough time behind bars to absorb the fact that a gun trups a knife and a baseball bat. Even an orange baseball bat.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

57 COMMENTS

  2. They were obviously on there way home from batting practice and a Boy Scout carving class when they became disoriented. Simply asking for directions when the paranoid, aggressive and blood thirsty gun owner opened fire. Said, or will say, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, etc.

    • Simply asking for directions when the paranoid, aggressive and blood thirsty gun owner pulled them inside his home and then opened fire.

      There, fixed that for you!

      • That is not always an option. If you rent a place that you cannot alter and has no provision for seeing who is knocking then this complicates the situation. In which case require the person to announce themselves before opening the door.

        But ALWAYS have a gun especially if you are unsure of the guest, that is what saved this individual’s life.

    • And/or stash loaded firearms everywhere (if you don’t have kids).

      If you pick up that habit for a good reason the habit dies hard. I still do that shit. If the one on my hip runs out or takes a crap on me I’m never more than a few steps away from another.

    • jwm, I don’t exactly home carry, but there is a handgun within arms reach in every room and I don’t step outside without a handgun on my person. A ready rifle is in the geographic center of my home. Day or night if someone knocks on my door my response is, 1. Arm myself. 2. ” Who’s there?” While standing to the side of the door. 3. If I don’t know you. “Step back from the door so I can see you from a window.” Damn a peephole. A door is a funnel of death. Once it was the county judge. When I opened the door and invited him in he saw me returning my weapon to its resting place. He asked, “You’re not going to shoot me are you?” Me, “No Judge, not you. You carrying a gun?” Him, “Yes.” Me, “You going to shoot me?” Him, “No.” Me, “Well, can I get you a cup of coffee? It’s fresh.”

      • j frame in the pocket. 12 ga upstairs and down. Others in the safes. Plus what my wife has access to.

        Here in the bay area of CA I have limits as to what type of rifle and mag limits. Plus it is very densely populated here. I’m down to only 2 centerfire rifles now and neither would be suitable house guns.

        • Damn! My sympathies. Couldn’t imagine what that is like. They’re trying do the same in Florida. I spend a lot of my time taking care of my 90 year old parents. Made dinner for them tonight, driving Dad to a doctor’s appointment Wednesday morning, etc. Don’t plan on leaving Florida, but I think I will go back to Liberty County when they’re gone. No kidding, living there, politically, is like living a hundred years ago. A gun is invisible to a deputy down there. Don’t believe me? A deputy made a mistake. Arrested an old guy on a traffic stop for having a concealed handgun without a CCW. High Sheriff releases him destroyed records. Deputy complains. FDLE investigates. Charges brought. Basically, jury nullification for the Sheriff. Deputy unemployed as I understand. Of course, if I remember correctly, the citizen was subsequently arrested later, in an unrelated incident, for a homicide. Can’t make this shit up. Florida really is a couple of different states.

        • jwm,

          Well, the beauty of a 12 gauge shotgun is that you don’t need very many shots to turn your home invader into hamburger stop your home invader in extremely short order.

          Even though my state upholds my right to have semi-auto rifles and 30-round magazines, I have a pump-action 20 gauge shotgun (loaded with slugs) at the ready at all times. No human on the planet, no matter how muscular or drugged up they might be, will be upright after taking a single 20 gauge slug to the chest. And even a solid hit to an arm or leg should immediately take away everyone’s will to fight.

          Unless you are facing a rip crew or a really determined 4+ man invasion team, you should be in pretty good shape with a 12 gauge shotgun and a j-frame revolver.

        • “And even a solid hit to an arm or leg should immediately take away everyone’s will to fight.”

          If they’re high on certain things it may not take away their will to fight. However, the beauty of what you’re suggesting here is that the amount of structural damage a slug like this will generally do means that they’re ability to fight, no matter how high they are, will be significantly degraded or removed entirely.

          Doesn’t matter how high on meth you are when you leg can’t physically work any more… or when half your brain has exited your skull.

        • I’m betting they would be perfect for sniping looters from the roof, seriously the way things are going you might want to put a perch up there and stow some ammo and a riffle up there.

    • I home pocket carry (sig P224 .40).

      I can’t say the same thing for our 9 fire extinguishers we have strategically placed around our house.

      If I ever have a home invasion, I wonder if my wife will want to purchase more firearms. Maybe she’ll start home carrying too.

      • I’ve been in a burning building. I have an overabundance of fire bottles around my house and have them in both cars.

        Fire bad.

    • Wait – that’s a trick question? Like, a riddle from Tolkien’s stories? I’m thinking . . . LOL

  5. This kind of thing happened to a friend of mine from high school. Happened a bit North of Las Lunas though, in Burque.

    Right after the guy I know graduated from UNM someone shows up at his door. My friend opens the door to see what’s what and a guy asks if he can use a phone when my friend says no, a second guy who wasn’t visible until now kicks the door in. Just like that my buddy and his girlfriend are tied up in their own bathtub with these two assholes stealing everything in the place and loading it into my friend’s truck.

    Then it gets real sketchy. The guy who kicked the door wants to off both my friend and his girlfriend because they’ve seen the BG’s faces. The other guy doesn’t want to turn a robbery into a double murder beef. Fortunately the latter won the argument, so both BG’s left and drove off with the truck and pretty much everything in the apartment other than the telephone cord they tied up their victims with.

    After that my friend 1) moved out of Burque, 2) doesn’t answer the door unless he knows exactly who is there and 3) made significant investments in security in the form of a fuckload of guns.

    ABQ and it’s burbs have been pretty sketchy for quite awhile.

    • strych9,

      Your friend’s girlfriend is extremely fortunate that those guys did not rape her as well. If they were considering murdering her, they had to be willing to rape her. Why they left her alone is beyond me.

      • Maybe they were gay…….but in that case they would have raped the fellow.
        Maybe they were skeered of AIDS or herpes.

      • Evidence suggests, but I cannot prove, that this wasn’t a couple of straight out thugs looking for a good time like Alex and the Droogs.

        Instead this was a targeted attack on what they thought was the residence of a drug dealer. They were there for drugs, cash and items of value. Finding none of the first and little of the second they decided everything in the place fit the third criteria.

        They asked repeatedly where the dope and cash were. Things that couldn’t be provided because they were not present.

        I would imagine they didn’t show up on their own but rather were sent to do a job.

      • There are plenty of robbers who are out for money and aren’t going to rape every woman they see. Many are in it for the money. Rapists do not have the same motive.

        (no, I am not a robber)

  6. Hopefully this Bonnie and Clyde pair will spend enough time behind bars to absorb the fact that a gun trups[sic] a knife and a baseball bat. Even an orange baseball bat.

    If that’s all they learn, that’s not helpful. That just teaches them to bring a gun next time.

    • Exactly what I was thinking. Hopefully if there is a next time (and there probably will be), the intended victim will be an even better shot and have an even better gun. No more next times.

  8. See the photo of the guy that got shot? Contrary to what some ttag’ers would have you think, white people commit crimes too.

    • Plenty of bad people out there. Color doesn’t matter only the content of their character. Better to be safe than sorry. I bet that homeowner doesn’t open the door to some random screwballs from now on. Especially if one of them is carrying an orange bat?? I sure wouldn’t open the door.

    • Trash comes in all colors some regions just have more of some wrappers to choose from

    • “white people commit crimes too”

      Evil doesn’t have a color or nationality. And yet, the goblins’ names were Benevides and Torres, not Rabinowitz and Wang.

      • You are, Sir, clearly not ‘woke’.

        ‘White’ now means ‘anyone whose ancestry includes any people from western Europe, or at least enough to make them ‘not tan”. Note that having ancestors from Spain does NOT entitle one to be called ‘Hispanic.’ A Spaniard, although somewhat ‘tanned’ and a native speaker of Spanish, is ‘White,’ because ‘Europe.’

        There’s a catch, though. If one does something ‘non-PC,’ the presence of any ‘White’ ancestry in certain categories takes precedence, as in: ‘White Hispanic.’ However, this does not apply to ‘White African-American,’ or ‘White Asian,’ or ‘White Inupiat.’ For example, ‘White African-Americans’ become President, and are NEVER called ‘White African-Americans.’ They are, instead, ‘African-Americans, because they are mostly filled with the Wholesome Goodness derived from their African-American bits and not accursed with the awful ‘Whiteness’ of any of their ‘White’ bits.

        I’m still working diligently on understanding all of the permutations inherent in this system. Bear with me.

        In ANY case, these two people, although blessed with Hispanic surnames, are clearly ‘White,’ and anything that they have done merely reflects upon their ‘Whiteness’ and has nothing to do with their Hispanicity. They would be, if the Media actually cared, called ‘White Hispanics,’ but only if they’d done a home invasion robbery of a Minority (IE, someone who does not look ‘White’ and is therefore both ‘good’ and ‘downtrodden’ under the iron boot of ‘Whiteness.’ In this case, as they attacked a ‘White’ household, they are neither newsworthy nor ‘White Hispanics.’ They are, instead, ‘White.’

        Got it? Good.

      • I mean we could get into per capita rates and overall percentages of crooks by group and discus wealth, developmental issues, culture, genetics and all but honestly so long as the trash gets taken out idgaf

  9. That’s why I personally like big bores,,, they don’t get to walk or run away,,, the best outcome, other wise there is a bunch of ambulance chasers waiting to make your life miserable… word,,,!

    • Lot to be said for a 45-70 …… including that I like my neighbors so that stays upstairs so the pass through is my landscaping.

  10. At least it ended well for the homeowner…..at least better than if he had no gun.

    EDC pocket carry makes a lot of sense.

  11. When I’m home, I usually pajama-carry a J-frame. And I have lots of other handguns, shotguns, knives and even a nasty-ass tomahawk within easy reach.

    • I want a tomahawk. If for no other reason than they are a reminder of the American past. Any suggestions for a serviceable product?

        • Smoke and Fire used to do a good for price reproduction if you prefer a wooden handle but can’t beat strych9’s suggestion for durability

        • My son got one of those estwing hawks for shits and giggles. He’s a carpenter and is really fond of hand tools new and old. Even without a firearm he would be deadly.

          I would not like to be swung at by that thing. It would leave a mark.

      • CRKT Freyr, quite nice and not terribly expensive.
        Though, it isn’t really a tomahawk, it is more akin to the Norse bearded axes.

  13. Good to keep a Firearm close.
    Glad he got them. Florida area is going Purple! Democrats in power in N.Y., Detroit, California, D.C. the Democrats get power then push out guns, then jobs, crimes and murders go up. Democrats supported Slavery and Republicans didnt, in the old days the Democrats were the rich and Socialist commies.. some things change some dont. Tex is trying to pass a Bill rejecting .gov Firearm restrictions.
    I hope more Proper Positive Firearm use is put out. And more Criminals are put down in these attempts. .

    • Of all those cities, only DETROIT is PRO-GUN. We have fewer progressives and more traditional democrats/liberals. Our police chief supports an armed citizenry, and shooting “bad guys” is considered a good thing.

  18. Stephen Benevides and Brittany Torres are just a couple GOP luminaries, doing what they do.

Comments are closed.