An El Paso man was acting abnormally, spouting nonsense, and equipped with a revolver before allegedly shooting a manager and threatening workers at a Lower Valley corrugated packing plant last month, according to court filings.
Paul Ivan Gonzalez, 32, was shot and wounded in a confrontation with an El Paso police officer who was responding to the shooting on the night of June 23 at the Smurfit Westrock El Paso Container Plant, 7350 Stiles Drive.
Gonzalez is accused of killing a factory manager, Leonardo Martinez, 46, in his office, shooting into the air in the parking area, and threatening employees before being shot multiple times by a police officer, according to court documents and police officials.
Gonzalez, dressed in an orange-and-white striped jail uniform, used a walker to maneuver around during a teleconference bond hearing from the El Paso County Jail Annex on Monday, July 14. He had been discharged from a hospital the previous week.
Gonzalez faces four charges of aggravated assault. They are:
Two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Aggravated assault resulting in serious physical injury.
Aggravated assault on a public official.
He is incarcerated on a $600,000 bond, which a magistrate court refused to reduce during Monday’s hearing due to the gravity of the offense.
At the hearing, a public defense counsel stated that Gonzalez works as an electrician and lives in Central El Paso with his grandmother. There is no attorney named for him in court records.
El Paso police responded to an armed man complaint
Around 11:24 p.m. on June 23, patrol officers from the Mission Valley Regional Command responded to complaints about a guy with a gun at the Smurfit Westrock factory, according to a complaint affidavit submitted by an El Paso police detective.
