Albuquerque security officer fatally shoots man outside grocery store
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. June 14 2019— A security guard shot and killed a man who struck him with an SUV outside a northeast Albuquerque grocery store Wednesday night, according to the Albuquerque Police Department.
APD spokesman Tanner Tixier said police believe the man was trying to free a woman who had been caught trying to steal liquor by store employees.
He said the security guard is cooperating with police and is not expected to face any charges at this time. He did not give the security guard’s name or identify the company he worked for.
Tixier said officers responded to a shooting at the Albertsons at Lomas and Juan Tabo around 11 p.m. They found a man shot, and he died at the hospital.
“Some sort of altercation ensued inside the Albertsons between a loss prevention officer and a female who was attempting to steal liquor,” he said.
Tixier said a man in the parking lot, possibly the woman’s accomplice, rammed a teal SUV into the doors of the Albertsons “multiple times,” taking down a nearby tree and striking the onsite security guard.
“The onsite security guard then discharged his weapon, shooting the individual, subsequently killing him,” he said.
Tixier said police took a woman into custody, but the security guard, who was taken to a hospital for his injuries, has not yet been able to positively identify her as the alleged shoplifter.
He said the shooting will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office for review as a possible justifiable homicide.
Two mobile crime labs and several police vehicles filled the Albertsons parking lot. Near the entrance a teal Jeep could be seen by a knocked over tree and, nearby, the front doors of the Albertsons had been bashed in.
Albuquerque Journal
