Police chase leads in Smith’s shooting

Shoppers at Smith’s grocery were shocked after a Taos man was fatally shot in the store parking lot last Friday night (Jan. 20), according to Taos Police Chief John Wentz.

According to a member of

law enforcement who spoke to the Taos News on background, police have identified a suspect, but Wentz would only say that officers “have some people that we’re trying to locate,” adding that his department is not “ready to charge anybody.”

“Taos police officers, with assistance from Taos County Sheriff’s Office and Taos Pueblo police, are actively investigating this incident,” Wentz said. “Evidence collected suggests this was not a random shooting. Taos police are following leads that will likely lead to the identification of a suspect. The investigation continues.”

According to dispatch logs, police arrived at the scene around 10:49 p.m. and found the victim, later identified as Thomas Tuski, lying unconscious in the parking lot with several gunshot wounds. According to the same logs, there was also a gun found on scene. An ambulance arrived with assistance from the Taos Volunteer Fire Department. Tuski was transported to Holy Cross Hospital around 11:07 p.m. but subsequently died from his wounds.

Reports say Tuski approached a light-colored SUV — which some witnesses identified as a Cadillac — before gunshots rang out from the vehicle, which sped off, according to Wentz. Dispatch logs stated that a man driving a cream-colored SUV was headed northbound from Smith’s, but officers did not make contact with the vehicle.

According to dispatch logs from Wednesday (Jan. 18), two days before he was murdered, Tuski told emergency operators that a black Honda had attempted to hit him in front of Albertsons before the vehicle left driving west on La Posta.

Since the shooting, some Taoseños have taken to social media to say that they’ll no longer visit the parking lot where Tuski was killed, at least after dark. One Taoseña wondered if Taos’ 2006 anti-light pollution ordinance, the Night Sky Protection Act, has had a negative effect on public safety or if the gun violence is a reflection of national trends.

“It’s happening all the time; and it’s just a tragedy and upsetting,” one local woman, who declined to give her name, told the Taos News in reference to the homicide. “But I feel safe here in the daylight. It’s hard to be surprised about it anymore. You wanna be, but with the mass murders that have been happening recently — it’s beyond explaining, really.”

“It doesn’t make me feel any safety because I have to come and buy groceries,” another Taos woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, “but I think all this violence and everything with guns should stop. This is getting out of control already.”

“It’s Taos,” said a young Taoseño who also declined to give their name. “You have to watch your surroundings, honestly.”

Taos Councilor Darien Fernandez told the Taos News that he and District 1 Taos County Commissioner Bob Romero, along with County Manager Brent Jaramillo, were set to attend a round table meeting at Casa Benavides Wednesday evening (Jan. 25) to discuss “safety, cameras and police response.”

Wentz said he doubts that improved lighting could have prevented Tuski’s death.

“I think out in the public spaces at night, that there is some sense of safety and security if an area is well-lit,” he said. “Based on the evidence that I’m seeing, it suggests that it probably would have happened whether there were lights there or not.”

Tuski was shot several times, and lost a lot of blood in the parking lot, where the gory scene was not cleaned until around 1:30 p.m. the next day ( Jan. 21). Photos of the scene showed copious amounts of blood with two wet floor signs placed around it. Cars parked on top of the mess as people pushed their carts through it.

Wentz was apologetic about the length of time it took for public safety personnel to clean up the blood.

“Quite honestly, it was an oversight,” Wentz said. “I make no excuses and accept full responsibility for that oversight. I can’t change what has already occurred. I can only do my best to ensure such an oversight doesn’t occur again in the future.”

According to Wentz, Taos Police notified the Taos Volunteer Fire Department of the uncleaned crime scene on Saturday, and the department attended to it that afternoon.

“This is my favorite store, and it’s having enough trouble as it is,” another local man who declined to give his name told the Taos News. “I’m disappointed, I’m bothered the dark side of Taos is, has been and maybe will continue.”