Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Gutierrez
Editor
Clovis Patrol Officer Brian Wanzor remembers asking, politely, for the man he’d been told was “acting crazy” to please open the bedroom door and come out so they could talk.
Eric Gutierrez’ response: five gunshots through the door.
“Honestly, I don’t know how he didn’t hit me,” Wanzor said.
No one was seriously injured early that morning, on Dec. 7, 2013. A six-hour standoff with police ended when Gutierrez gave himself up peacefully. He pleaded guilty in May to charges that included attempted murder, and on Monday he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
“You have an extensive history in the system of extremely violent crimes,” District Judge Drew Tatum told Gutierrez during sentencing.
“You have been a true menace and terror on our community for a long time. You are not the victim in this. The officers put their lives at risk every day and you choose to put their lives in danger for no reason and it’s despicable.
“Now is the time you must pay the consequences for that choice. The purpose of this sentence is to protect the community.”
link Gutierrez
About 15 family members were in court to show their support for Gutierrez and several spoke on his behalf, District Attorney Andrea Reeb said. Gutierrez spoke briefly, apologizing for the situation, Reeb said.
About two dozen law-enforcement officers also attended the proceeding, many in their uniforms.
Gutierrez’ attorney Michael Garrett did not return calls seeking comment.
Wanzor, who now works as a Portales patrol officer, said in an interview after the sentencing that he still thinks about the incident every day.
“It’s changed my life professionally and personally,” he said.
“I think about how different it could have been, and I’m very cognizant of doorways, almost to the point of being overly cautious.”
• • •
Wanzor said he and rookie Clovis police Officer Clay Osborn were called to the home in the 300 block of Hinkle Street that morning because a man was “being violent and acting crazy.” Gutierrez, then 30, was barricaded behind a door in a bedroom.
Wanzor said Gutierrez’ father, who called police, led him into the house.
“He made a comment as we came to the bedroom, something like ‘The police are here to get your (expletive),’” Wanzor said.
Wanzor said he knocked on the door. “Nothing. So I asked him again, and I said please, and I heard him yelling something through the door,” Wanzor said.
“Something told me something was not right here. I looked at the younger officer I had with me — he was fresh out of the (training) academy — and I motioned for him to get behind me. Probably three seconds later, Eric Gutierrez shot five rounds through the door.”
Wanzor said a small piece of wood or metal hit him in the face, and the next few seconds were chaos. Gutierrez and his father were shouting, Wanzor began shouting “shots fired” into his radio.
Officials said Gutierrez opened the door briefly, then retreated, as did police and Gutierrez’ father.
Wanzor drew his weapon, but said he did not fire it.
“I didn’t feel it was safe,” he said on Monday.
“I didn’t know if anybody else was in the room. It didn’t feel safe just shooting blind rounds through the wall.”
• • •
Wanzor said he left the scene that day before Gutierrez surrendered.
“I thank God I got to go home,” he said. “I remember coming home and just thanking God and not wanting to be away from (his family).”
He said he considered quitting law enforcement after the incident.
“I’ve thought about it,” he said. “But God calls you to do something and I believe God made me to be a police officer.”
His wife, he said, might choose a different path for him. “I’m sure she’d like a desk job,” he said. “But she respects me and my passion and God’s calling for me.”
Fast facts:
• Eric Gutierrez, 32, was sentenced to 40 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to attempted murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit a violent felony upon a peace officer and felon in possession of a firearm.
• The term includes enhancements for prior felonies.
• He must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.
• The incident marked the first time anyone had shot at a Clovis police officer in 11 years. Keith Bessette was hit in the arm in December 2002 while serving a drug warrant. Timothy Michael Burke, 53 at the time, was sentenced to 32 1/2 years in prison in that case.
Source: District Attorney Andrea Reeb
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