Man arrested after alleged barefoot rampage

CLOVIS — Police on Friday arrested a man after following his bloody footprints on an alleged early morning rampage that started at a Clovis gun shop.

Derrick Morales, 34, is charged with felony aggravated burglary, larceny and numerous counts of criminal damage to property, including over $1,000 in damage to an interview room following his arrest.

The incident started just before 2:30 a.m. with reports of a burglary to the gun shop on the 500 block of North Prince Street, and a Clovis police officer ultimately located Morales after “following a blood trail” on a circuitous path from there to the 800 block of Gidding Street.

Police said in a news release that Morales incurred a foot injury during the burglary, during which he allegedly damaged over $3,000 of property including a “specialty handmade stained glass” door. Once inside he “armed himself with a rifle” valued around $15,000 and “then grabbed a cigar that was on display on an Indian ashtray located by the front door,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

At some point in the alleged burglary Morales “was cut on his left leg,” and his ensuing path from the gun shop left a blood trail first to the 400 block of Axtell Street where police say he busted out four windows of a Curry County Sheriff K-9 vehicle.

“The trail then continued west on Fifth Street to the main doors of the district attorney’s office at 417 Gidding St. where the upper right window was busted,” said the affidavit. “The blood trail led north on Gidding to Sixth Street where it turned around and went back to the Eastern New Mexico (News) building and the(n) led up to the north east door which was busted.”

The trail ended back at Gidding, where police located Morales. He “refused EMS assistance” for his foot injury but was transported to Plains Regional Medical Center after allegedly “ripping the wires out of the security system and pulling down and busting the ceiling tiles” in a police interview room.

Court records did not list an attorney representing Morales as of Saturday. He remained in custody pending a motion for pre-trial detention.