Rio Rancho man arrested for shooting at vehicle on Paseo del Norte

A Rio Rancho man is accused of shooting at another vehicle in front of a New Mexico State Police officer on Paseo del Norte during the Monday morning commute.

Paul Marquez, 21, is charged with aggravated assault upon a peace officer with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and shooting at or from a motor vehicle.

Marquez is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. It is unclear who his attorney is.

State Police spokesman Ray Wilson said around 7:15 a.m. Monday, a State Police officer was patrolling Paseo del Norte, heading east near Second, when he saw a man wave the officer down and point to their right.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, as the officer rolled his window down, he saw a white Nissan Pathfinder — driven by a man later identified as Marquez — moving at high speed. The driver rolled his window down, took out a black handgun and fired three shots into the passenger side of a Toyota 4Runner.

The officer later told a State Police Investigations Bureau agent that he was "in the line of fire, which made him nervous," according to the complaint.

The officer stopped Marquez on the shoulder of Paseo, and arrested him without incident.

According to court records, an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge against Marquez was dismissed without prejudice in February. Marquez was accused of pointing a knife at a man who was chasing him with a vehicle in a Walmart parking lot. The man told police he chased Marquez because Marquez was a suspect in an October hit-and-run, road-rage incident.

There are no records of the October incident in online court records.