Two men involved in separate incidents in Silverton over the Fourth of July holiday will likely face felony charges relating to handling of firearms.
On Friday July 5, Hector Antonio Burciaga, 24, was arrested by a San Juan County sheriff’s deputy on suspicion of menacing, a class five felony, after he drew a gun during a fight at the WhistleStop Gas Station on U.S. Highway 550 south of downtown Silverton.
Two days later, Sheriff Bruce Conrad and two deputies responded to a report that a man had intimidated an employee at Molas Lake Campground with a handgun during a “contentious conversation.” Upon investigation, officers discovered the man suspected of using a .45 caliber Glock handgun to intimidate an employee had also left the firearm with his 16-year-old son and left for several days.
Conrad authored an affidavit in support of a warrant for the arrest of Ray Esquibel, 43, of Farmington on suspicion of unlawfully providing or permitting a juvenile to possess a firearm, a class four felony, and disorderly conduct, a class two misdemeanor.
“The immense responsibility of carrying a firearm for self-defense requires that you maintain situational awareness, and remove yourself from aggressive situations rather than engage in them because you are armed,” Conrad said in a written statement to The Durango Herald.
Law enforcement was dispatched to the WhistleStop Gas Station around 1:30 p.m. on July 5 after reports that a fight was in progress and someone had produced a firearm, according to an arrest affidavit.
Deputy Steve Lowrance stopped a vehicle matching the description of the firearm-brandishing individual’s truck en route to the scene.
The driver, Burciaga, had a firearm in a hip holster which Sheriff Conrad secured. Burciaga and his passengers all told law enforcement that the 24-year-old had tossed the firearm behind him as an argument with another patron of the gas station heated up. It was retrieved by his passenger. None of the parties recalled Burciaga aiming the weapon at anyone during the confrontation.
Lowrance located the alleged victim, who told him that Burciaga had “put a gun in his face.”
“The rear seat passenger said he saw the suspect pull the gun and aim it at the victim,” the affidavit reads.
Security camera footage from the gas station showed the two having a confrontation, possible over a gas pump, and yelling at one another. Burciaga is then seen removing the gun from his hip and aiming it at the victim’s head before later dropping the weapon.
Then, on the following Sunday, a staff member of the Molas Lake Campground called to report that someone had displayed a firearm to her during a conversation during which she asked someone later identified as Esquibel to move his truck from a walking path where driving was prohibited.
According to the victim’s report, Esquibel retrieved a handgun from his truck, held it behind his back, and “proceeded to do a complete 360 to show me that he did have a gun.”
The weapon was not pointed at her, but she “felt it was intentionally displayed in order to intimidate her.”
When law enforcement approached the campsite where the truck was parked, they found three 16-year-olds alone, including Esquibel’s son, who informed officers that Esquibel had returned to Farmington and left the weapon in the truck.
When contacted by phone, Esquibel told Conrad that the victim may have seen the weapon when “I was transferring it from the car I’m into (sic) the truck.”
Esquibel told Conrad he was not aware that it was unlawful for someone under 18 to possess a firearm in Colorado and responded, “What kind of father would I be if I left my son out there without a gun to protect himself from lions and bears?”
These most recent incidents were not the only ones in recent memory in which someone escalated a conflict in San Juan County with a firearm.
Last summer, a New Mexico woman fired a gun over a road as a means of threatening a couple during a conflict between the parties. She was arrested on suspicion of menacing with a deadly weapon, a felony, and prohibited use of a firearm, a misdemeanor.
“Going to the gun is the last resort when de-escalation fails and there is no where to remove yourself or your loved ones to,” Conrad wrote. “Too many people feel having a firearm on their person or in the vehicle makes them safer. When the reality is, without the appropriate training and mindset, you are just creating dangerous potentials for yourself and others.”
rschafir@durangoherald.com
