A 31-year-old man was charged with kidnapping Thursday, a day after the mother of a snatched 4-year-old girl chased down a car and rammed it with her own.

Albuquerque police said David Jesus Hernandez ran away after the crash. According to authorities, the victim's mother did not realize he had pushed the child from his car while fleeing the apartment complex where the girl had been taken.

David Jesus Hernandez, 31, is wanted for questioning in a child kidnapping that took place Wednesday in Albuquerque.

A manhunt for Hernandez ended Thursday night when he turned himself in.

Hernandez was being held Friday on charges of kidnapping and child abuse, according to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque.

Police said they were investigating a "possible connection" between Wednesday's incident and one last week in which a 6-year-old girl was kidnapped, driven away in a car and sexually assaulted.

In the latest incident, the victim was playing in her yard about 6:30 p.m. when a man forced her into a silver Buick, police said. As he took off, some teenagers hanging around outside ran inside and alerted the child's mother, police said.

As she jumped into her own car to chase the Buick, the suspect pushed the little girl out of his vehicle. The mother didn't notice and kept going after the man.

"She was involved in a high-speed pursuit," Police Chief Ray Schultz said.

After tearing down several streets, the mother rammed the Buick to get it to stop, police said. The driver jumped out and fled on foot.

"This appears to be a complete stranger abduction," Schultz said.

The 4-year-old was found wandering near the apartment complex.

Last week's incident also involved a man driving a silver or gray car, police said.

This story was originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 2:16 PM EDT

At least four people were stabbed at an Albuquerque, N.M., church when a man went on a rampage during a Sunday service’s closing hymns, police said.

Albuquerque Police Department officials say Lawrence Capener, 24, leaped over pews and lunged at members of the choir just before noon on Sunday. He repeatedly stabbed choir members with a weapon, according to police.

Police officers dispatched to St. Jude Thaddeus Parish discovered that several parishioners had pinned Capener to the floor, according to police spokesperson Tasia Martinez.

“The scene was chaotic when officers arrived and it was quickly ascertained that numerous parishioners essentially jumped on the male offender and held him down until officers arrived,” Martinez said.

Officials have Capener in custody. Officials said they have determined that the assailant was not a parishioner at the church but have not determined a motive for the attack. He will face numerous felony charges, according to police.

The four stabbing victims all sustained non-life threatening injuries and were being treated at local hospitals, according to authorities. Officials have not yet released the names of the victims.

Handout / Reuters

President Barack Obama announced Monday that he will designate five locations, including Patos Island Lighthouse at the San Juan National Monument in Washington, and others around the country as national monuments to protect large tracts of land and historical sites, a White House official said.

President Barack Obama signed proclamations Monday designating five locations around the country as new national monuments to protect large tracts of land and historical sites, a White House official said. 

The locations range from a 240,000-acre expanse in New Mexico's high desert and the town green in Dover, Del., to an archipelago in Washington, a historical home in Ohio and a park in Maryland. 

“These sites honor the pioneering heroes, spectacular landscapes and rich history that have shaped our extraordinary country,” said Obama. “By designating these national monuments today, we will ensure they will continue to inspire and be enjoyed by generations of Americans to come.”

Handout / Reuters

Watmough Bight on Lopez Island at the San Juan National Monument in Washington is seen.

Similar to a national park, the sites, located in Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Ohio and Washington, can be designated as national monuments directly by the president without congressional approval, under the Antiquities Act.

Conservationists and lawmakers said the new monuments are expected to promote economic growth in the local communities through tourism and outdoor recreation.

"Our state will now welcome the many economic opportunities that surround a new national monument and can help boost local businesses and create jobs," Delaware Senator Tom Carper told Reuters.

“There’s no doubt that these monuments will serve as economic engines for the local communities through tourism and outdoor recreation – supporting economic growth and creating jobs," Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

The president designated the First State National Monument in Delaware, which spans three historical areas: the Dover Green, the New Castle Court House complex and the Woodlawn property in Brandywine Valley. The site tells the story of the early Dutch, Swedish, Finnish and English settlement of the colony of Delaware, and it will be the state's first designation. 

The president also designated Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico, which contains stretches of the Rio Grande Gorge and extinct volcanoes that rise fro the Taos Plateau. The area is known for its spectacular landscapes and recreational opportunities like rafting, fishing and hiking and serves as an important habitat for many birds and wildlife. 

Handout / Reuters

Minnie's Beach, Active Cove on Patos Island at the San Juan National Monument in Washington is seen.

Obama also designated the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument on Maryland's Eastern Shore that honors the escaped slave who helped lead others to freedom.

The site includes Stewart’s Canal, dug by hand by free and enslaved people between 1810 and the 1830s, and where Tubman learned important outdoor skills when she worked in the nearby timber operations with her father, the White House said. 

Rounding out the new monuments are: the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio, which honors the distinguished officer in the United States Army who was the third African American to graduate from West Point and the first to achieve the rank of Colonel; and the San Juan Islands National Monument in Washington state, home to a number of historic lighthouses and cultural resources and fossils dating back 12,000 years.

Obama has previously designated four places as national monuments, including the home and headquarters of the United Farm Workers of America leader César Chávez and Colorado's Chimney Rock, known for its rich history of Native American culture. 

YouTube

The above screen shot shows a video posted by horsehumane on YouTube. horsehumane reposted a video originally posted by Tim Sappington, which shows him fatally shooting a horse.

An employee of a southeastern New Mexico slaughterhouse has posted a video online showing him fatally shooting a horse in the head.

That has sparked outrage among animal activists and led to death-threat calls to the Roswell meat company, which is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get a horse slaughter plant in the area.

A maintenance contractor with Valley Meat Co. is shown in the video bringing a horse out of its pen, swearing at activists and then killing the horse with a single gunshot, KOB-TV reported Thursday.

Rick De Los Santos, a part-owner of Valley Meat Co., said he has been slammed with hate calls and death threats since the video hit the Internet.

"I didn't have anything to do with that video. That's the honest truth," De Los Santos said.

De Los Santos said the contract worker, Tim Sappington, shot the video on his own time and at his own home.

"He shot a horse. That's what he eats. It's not against the law to slaughter your own horse," De Los Santos said. "Now, putting it on YouTube, I would not have done that."

Last year, De Los Santos sued the USDA to resume the inspections necessary to open what would be the nation's first new horse slaughterhouse in more than five years.

The suit alleges USDA inaction on the company's application was driven by emotional political debates and has cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Many animal humane groups and public officials were outraged at the idea of resuming domestic horse slaughter, including New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.

But others — including some horse rescuers, livestock associations and the American Quarter Horse Association — support a return to domestic horse slaughter.

They point to a 2011 report from the federal Government Accountability Office that shows horse abuse and abandonment have been increasing since Congress effectively banned horse slaughter by cutting funding for federal inspection programs in 2006. 

Steve Snowden / Getty Images, file

Santa Fe Mayor David Coss speaks during a public appearance in October 6, 2009 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Democratic mayor of Santa Fe is calling on New Mexico’s county clerks to begin issuing licenses to same-sex couples, saying it was time that everyone – including his lesbian daughter – should be treated equally under the law in a state that does not ban gay marriage.

New Mexico is one of two states in the country that neither specifically allows nor explicitly bans gays and lesbians from getting married (the other is New Jersey).

Nor does it offer civil unions or domestic partnerships to same-sex couples, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The marriage statute, which does not specify gender, is “sufficiently vague” on the issue, said Phil Sisneros, a spokesman for New Mexico’s attorney general.

Mayor David Coss and City Attorney Geno Zamora teamed up to examine that legal question and believe that nothing in the state constitution or statutes prevent county clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Zamora issued a legal analysis of these findings, and the City Council is expected to vote on a resolution in support of Coss’ call on March 27.

“People’s lives are short and when you’re waiting for your rights you know how long do you have to wait? I’m sorry we didn’t do it ten years ago. I don’t think we should wait another ten years before we push the issue,” Coss told NBC News. “Let’s start treating everybody equally under the law.”

Though the resolution does not carry legal weight, Zamora, who has a gay brother, said they wanted to send a message to the Supreme Court before it hears landmark cases next week challenging a federal law (Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA) that bars recognition of same-sex couples and California’s Proposition 8, which prohibits gays and lesbians from getting married in the Golden State.

“The decision was made … we cannot wait any longer to protect the rights of our brothers and sisters, our colleagues and our community members,” he said. “It’s very important for cities and city attorney’s offices to enter this debate recognizing equal rights for their citizens.”

In 2004, a clerk for Sandoval county issued same-sex marriage licenses for one day before the state attorney general ordered her to stop, saying the 64 licenses were not valid, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican.

Santa Fe County Clerk Geraldine Salazar told the newspaper on Tuesday that she wasn’t going to issue licenses to gay and lesbian couples, even though she’d like to, because she felt she couldn’t under the law.

“I would love to be able to issue marriage licenses (to same sex couples) but under the current law, I feel I’m not free and clear to do so. The Legislature creates the laws and the judges interpret the laws and I as a county clerk do not create or interpret laws,” she said. “And I feel that my oath of office does not allow to me act counter to the laws of New Mexico.”

Sisneros, of the attorney general’s office, said that the issue was unclear and felt nothing was likely to happen until a county clerk attempted to grant a license to a same-sex couple. At that point, an anti-gay marriage group may file a lawsuit or the attorney general could be asked to weigh in, among other possible scenarios.

“This seems more properly characterized as an expression of the city’s position on same-sex marriages since it does not carry the force of law,” Sisneros said of the Santa Fe mayor’s resolution. “Our office, though, has not had the opportunity yet to weigh in on the specific question of whether same sex marriages are legal under New Mexico law."

Previous state bills to ban or approve same-sex marriage have been rejected by New Mexico's lawmakers.

Thomas Peters, a spokesman for the National Organization for Marriage which opposes same-sex marriage, said New Mexicans should be able to decide the issue for themselves. 

"Allow the debate to continue and the people to decide, not activists mayors and judges," he said in a statement.

NBC News

Stephen Slevin was held in solitary confinement for 22 months after a DWI. The photo on the left shows him after his detainment; on the right is his booking photo, when he was healthier and clean-shaven.

A man who spent 22 long months in solitary confinement in a New Mexico jail, neglected to the point where he was forced to pull out his own tooth because he said he wasn't allowed to see a dentist, will receive $15.5 million for the ordeal.

The settlement with Dona Ana County, N.M., falls short of the $22 million that Stephen Slevin, 59, and his attorney had asked for, but is still one of the largest prisoner civil rights payouts in U.S. history.

"His mental health has been severely compromised from the time he was in that facility. That continues to be the same. No amount of money will bring back what they took away from him," Matt Coyte, Slevin's Albuquerque-based attorney, said on Wednesday. "But it’s nice to be able to get him some money so he can improve where he is in life and move on."

Slevin's story of inhumane treatment in the Dona Ana County Jail, where he was incarcerated from 2005 to 2007 — which he said included his toenails growing so long that they curled around his foot, and fungus festering on his skin because he was deprived of showers — first received publicity last January, when he was awarded the $22 million.

Dona Ana County had been appealing the verdict ever since, refusing to pay Slevin.

But the legal battle ended Tuesday with the $15.5 million settlement, a number decided on in court mediation, according to Jess Williams, Dona Ana County's public information director.

An initial payment of $6 million is expected to be wired to Slevin by the end of this week; he will receive the rest in installments in the following days.

For Slevin — who has lung cancer and has beaten doctors' odds for how long he would survive — the case was not about how much money he could make, his attorney said, but about getting recognition of how poorly he was treated and the scars he still has.

"He's had lots of difficulties over the years. I don't think he will stop having difficulties," Coyte said. "The courage he had in the trial was magnificent."

Slevin's mistreatment by Dona Ana County started the moment he was arrested back in August of 2005, his attorney told NBC News.

"He was driving through New Mexico and arrested for a DWI, and he allegedly was in a stolen vehicle. Well, it was a car he had borrowed from a friend; a friend had given him a car to drive across the country," Coyte said in an interview last January.

Slevin was depressed at the time, Coyte explained, and wanted to get out of New Mexico. Instead, he found himself in jail.

"When he gets put in the jail, they think he's suicidal, and they put him in a padded cell for three days, but never give him any treatment."

Nor did they give him a trial, Coyte said. Slevin said he never saw a judge during his time in confinement.

After three days in the padded cell, jail guards transferred Slevin into solitary confinement with no explanation. 

"Their policy is to then just put them in solitary" if they appear to have mental health issues, Coyte told NBC News. 

While in solitary confinement, a prisoner is entitled to one hour per day out of the cell, but often times, Slevin wasn't even granted that, Coyte said. 

"Your insanity builds. Some people holler or throw feces out their cell doors," he said. "Others rock back and forth under a blanket for a year or more, which is what my client did."

By the time Slevin got out of jail, his hair was shaggy and overgrown, his beard long, and his face pale and sunken, a drastic contrast from the clean-shaven booking photo taken of him when he was arrested two years prior.

"Without that picture, we couldn't have gotten where we were," Coyte said of the lawsuit.

Coyte would not reveal where Slevin is living now for privacy reasons, only saying that he was not in New Mexico. He said he receives support from family and is "doing well" and "feels optimistic" about his treatment for cancer, which is unrelated to his time in jail and was not a factor in his trial.

Williams, the Dona Ana County public information officer, said no jail personnel have been fired over Slevin's treatment. However, he said, the jail has been working to improve the care it provides for mentally ill inmates.

"We now have dedicated wings of the building, one for males, one for females, that are totally dedicated for closely supervised mental health provisions and care," he said. "We've greatly expanded our medical area and we have contracted out at great expense for both medical and mental health services within the facility."

The budget at Dona Ana County Jail for medical care for inmates has nearly doubled since 2005, the year that Slevin was arrested, Williams said.

In a statement released by the Dona Ana County Commission, the jail also outlined plans for a crisis triage center "that will help stabilize mentally-ill persons who have committed no crimes but who represent a danger to themselves or others in the eyes of law-enforcement professionals."

But for Coyte, Slevin's attorney, there's still one more change that needs to be made: Dona Ana County Jail's warden.

"If you were in the trial and heard what the person who ran the facility said, you would be appalled," Coyte said. "I get lots of people [inmates] calling from that jail asking for help. Am I pleased that they've spent more money in the jail? Absolutely. I'm pleased that Mr. Slevin's case has made a difference in the jail. But the same people are running it, and it's an attitude of how you run something."

Related content: 

• Man spends 2 years in solitary after DWI arrest
• Letters from solitary confinement reveal DWI man's despair

A disturbing video of teenagers pointing a gun at one of their peers, taunting him, has led to a police investigation in New Mexico.

The video, in which a reportedly autistic boy is cornered in a bedroom while another kid holds a weapon up to his face, shows at least two other teens laughing and yelling.

One, referring to the gun, says "It's f***ing loaded, b*tch," then props his foot up on a bed. He tells the boy, "Kiss my shoes." The other says, "dude, you better f***ing kiss his shoe."

NBC affiliate KOB.com reported the video was recorded in January, but only recently posted onto Facebook. The father of the boy who was being taunted shared the video, which was taken down from Facebook, with the news station; the faces of all the teens have now been blurred to protect their identities.

The 16-year-old boy who was being terrorized in the video was autistic, his father told KOB.com.

Calls from NBC to the Los Alamos police department were not immediately returned, but the school district confirmed the incident took place at a house in Los Alamos, off of school grounds.

"There were not any arrests," Los Alamos Superintendent Gene Schmidt said. "Two detectives did come onto our campus to interview potential witnesses. From what I understand, later on, a citation was issued."

KOB.com reported that the teen with the gun was charged with aggravated assault, but it was not clear if the other teens faced charges or if anyone was physically harmed.

The students all attended Los Alamos High School, Schmidt said.

He couldn't comment on disciplinary action in the case, but said, "We do have an active protocol when the school is concerned that bullying may or may not be taking place. We work very actively to set up a safety plan for those people involved. ... Our administrative team was aware of this investigation, and a parallel universe was developed in which safety plans for students at the high school was developed and deployed."