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2007 Slush Pile

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Tagger electrocuted

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Teen tagger shocked at substation dies (5/19/2007)

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Related Stories Police: Jolt leaves tagger badly burned (05/17/2007) Family looks for positive in tagger's death (5/20/2007) 911 tape shows friends aided injured tagger (5/22/2007)

By Jason Auslander | The New Mexican

May 19, 2007

Friend says 18-year-old was quiet, ‘very artistic’

Police said Friday that the Santa Fe man who was burned over 80 percent of his body at a northwestside electrical substation died at an Arizona hospital.

Aaron Vigil, 18, died at the Arizona Burn Center in Phoenix, where he was taken after a Wednesday afternoon incident apparently caused by his trying to spray-paint graffiti on high-voltage equipment.

Deputy Police Chief Benjie Montaño said family members told police they didn’t want to speak to news reporters Friday.

However, a friend and former classmate at Capital High School described Vigil as “a quiet person and very artistic.”

Santiago Maestas, 17, said Friday that he was Vigil’s best friend in high school before they both dropped out last year when they were in the 11th grade.

He said Vigil moved to Santa Fe four years ago from Visalia, Calif., to live with his father.

Vigil didn’t have a lot of other friends, Maestas said, although the two of them continued to hang out regularly after dropping out of school.

“He was a great guy,” said Maestas, who reported he last saw Vigil about a week ago at Maestas’ house. “He seemed all right,” Maestas said.

Vigil liked to draw portraits and write and paint graffiti, Maestas said. “He liked to tag a lot,” he said.

On Wednesday afternoon, police say, Vigil climbed a high, graffiti-covered concrete wall topped with razor wire to get inside a Public Service Company of New Mexico substation near Buckman Road. Officials say a stream of spray paint might have caused 115,000 volts of electricity to arc into his body, leaving him only partially clothed and badly burned.

After police and medics responded to a 911 call from his cell phone, Vigil was flown to University Hospital in Albuquerque and then airlifted to the Phoenix hospital.

Police have said they believe others might have been with Vigil at the time, partly because his body was found outside the walls when emergency workers arrived. Investigators are skeptical he could have gotten out on his own, considering his condition.

Investigators also believe Vigil had help getting inside the substation, and he might not have made the 911 call himself, Montaño has said.

The incident caused $20,000 in damage to an electrical transformer, Montaño said Friday. State officials also have blamed the momentary power outage caused by the incident for knocking out computer service to various state agencies, including a statewide crash of the state Motor Vehicle Division’s computer system.

Maestas said Friday that he had called others who knew Vigil but didn’t find anyone who was with him Wednesday afternoon. “I think he was by himself,” Maestas said.

He speculated his friend was trying to put his mark in an area that hadn’t been tagged before. “He was probably trying to reach a spot that was not real common,” Maestas said.

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Submitted on 12/04/2007

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: Teen tagger shocked at substation dies (5/19/2007)Copyright 2007 The New Mexican, Inc

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Repeat
Thanks, we received this story dozens of times back in May when the incident occurred.

Chip said:
Definitely Toss: Repeat
As Bruce said we already have this one but we do appreciate the submission.

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2007 Slush Pile

Tagger electrocuted

2007 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance