Preliminary examination set for alleged drive-by shooter

By ROB LARSON
Daily Press Staff Writer
Following a drive-by shooting last Thursday, Jose Ruiz, the alleged shooter, has been scheduled to appear before Judge Daniel Reyes Jr. of Artesia’s Magistrate Court for a preliminary examination Wednesday, April 11.
Ruiz, 20, has been charged with shooting at or from a motor vehicle (causing injury), aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Ruiz faces up to three years confinement and a $5,000 fine for shooting at or from a motor vehicle and aggravated battery charge and up to 18 months confinement and a $5,000 fine for each charge of aggravated assault. The defendant has entered no plea. … For the rest of the story, subscribe in print and on the web.
According to the affidavit for search warrant, officers with the Artesia Police Department responded to a report of shots fired at First Street and Kemp Avenue. While en route, officers received radio reports of a gunshot wound victim at Fifth Street and Gage Avenue, a few blocks away from the location of the initial call.
Upon arriving on the scene, officers found the victim sitting beside the opened driver’s side door of a parked white Toyota Sequoia SUV. Police then noticed the gunshot victim had been struck in the back by a bullet.