Sheriff's office: Woman appears to have accidentally shot herself near Nambé church
Jul. 10—A woman was wounded earlier this month by what police believe was a gun accident outside a church in Nambé.
The woman — a 35-year-old from Chimayó — survived the gunshot to her abdomen, but the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office did not have an update regarding her condition Wednesday.
A man and woman told authorities they happened upon the wounded woman in the early hours of July 2 outside Sacred Heart Church in Nambé, lying on the ground next to a vehicle and "screaming in pain that she had been shot and needed help," according to a report from a deputy who was dispatched to the incident.
The couple told deputies they did not know the woman. The man drove her to Presbyterian Española Hospital, the report states.
Sheriff's office spokeswoman Denise Womack-Avila said the woman who suffered the gunshot wound told investigators "she was shot when a firearm she was in possession of accidentally discharged."
An investigation into the incident was still open, Womack-Avila said, but investigators believe the shooting was an accident.
Sacred Heart Church also was the site of a burglary and vandalism weeks earlier, but investigators did not believe the shooting and the burglary are connected, Womack-Avila said.
On June 19, deputies responded to a call regarding a broken window at the church, discovering items had been stolen and a gold cross "had been turned upside down" at the altar, according to an incident report provided by the sheriff's office.
Investigators found fingerprints on the cross, the report states. Womack-Avila said investigators hope to receive surveillance footage that could offer more information on the burglary.
