'A fear I never knew existed:' Judge grants firearm protection order against standoff suspect

BERNALILLO — A judge granted a temporary extreme risk firearm protection order against Eric Brusstar Friday afternoon.

Brusstar is accused of shooting hundreds of rounds of ammunition in an overnight standoff with police that started around 11 p.m. Dec. 17 when 911 calls began coming in about shots being fired in the Corrales Heights neighborhood. The standoff lasted into the early morning hours of Dec. 18.

According to petitions filed with the 13th Judicial District Court, one of the responding officers from the Rio Rancho Police Department said that after making contact with Brusstar by phone during the incident, Brusstar said he was trying to shoot the streetlight out because he couldn’t sleep from the brightness. Brusstar claimed that he has asked the city to fix it for years but they hadn’t done anything. He allegedly told police, “I dare someone to come to my front door right now.”

The report notes that New Mexico State Police and Albuquerque Police Department helicopters helped locate Brusstar and that he was “continually walking around the yard of his residence and shooting off rounds from chest level and up over the next several hours.”

The filing also alleges that by 1:30 a.m. Dec. 18, officers at the scene estimated that Brusstar had fired at least 500 rounds and was shooting toward houses, police officers and helicopters.

He was taken into custody by SWAT and K9 units “due to hours of repeated non-compliance to exit the residence.”

A neighbor and witness also made an emotional written appeal to the court in asking for the protection order.

“At approximately 11 p.m. on December 17th, 2024, our little safe town of Rio Rancho changed. My home is no longer my safe place. Rio Rancho is no longer a little town that children can be raised in without the fear of random terrorism,” the witness wrote. “Hearing hundreds of bullets flying by my home is something that happens during a war, in a different country with military vehicles monitoring the streets. Or so I believed.”

They went on to describe hunkering down with their family in their bedroom, listening to the police scanner for information on what was happening and questioning how they would explain this all to their child, especially if a member of the family or an officer was hurt or killed.

“At one point, I folded my body in half and buried my face in my mattress so my daughter would not hear or see me cry. I let the tears run down my face and into a pillow because I was terrified. Not the type of scared that people get if they see a coyote running down our road. This was a fear I never knew existed. I might die tonight … I might see my child get hit, or worse,” they wrote.

“The person that terrorized my town, my police force, my neighbors, my family and myself has evil intent and disregard for anyone living. His thoughts that possessing a firearm for terrorizing this community all for his own personal benefit is horrendous. If this person is ever able to have a weapon in his hand, I have no doubt that a murder will occur,” the statement said. “I beg of you, stop this action from ever happening again by this person. Please keep weapons away from him. … Please protect us.”

Police statements included with the firearm protection order petitions state that Brusstar “sounded intoxicated while on the phone while firing guns, and officers reported smelling alcoholic beverages emitting from him as he spoke.”

The paperwork also notes a mental health history of mood disorder, PTSD, anxiety and non-psychotic condition as well as an “alcohol and THC dependence for pain management.”

An officer wrote that Brusstar was charged with five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of negligent use of a deadly weapon. Six long guns and two handguns were removed from his property with a search warrant.

“The respondent made a multitude of community members and police officers feel in fear of their lives by the negligent use of firearms. Also put the community in direct danger firing into a neighborhood,” the first officer on the scene wrote in asking for the protection order to be granted.

Judge George Eichwald granted the petitioners’ request Friday afternoon and put it into immediate effect.

“Respondent is prohibited from having in the Respondent’s possession, custody or control any firearm. Respondent is also prohibited from purchasing, receiving or attempting to purchase or receive any firearm while this order is in effect,” the prohibition reads.

Brusstar is also ordered to surrender all firearms in his possession to law enforcement for a federal firearms licensee. Failure to do so would be a misdemeanor.

A hearing to put the order into effect for one year is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 30 at the 13th Judicial District Court.