Off-duty security guard shot by police during stand-off
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Aug 20 2018– Reports of an unidentified man threatening to shoot his neighbors at a northeast Albuquerque apartment complex Sunday afternoon led to an officer-involved shooting that sent the suspect to the hospital.
Preceding the exchange of gunfire between Albuquerque Police and the suspect was a two-hour standoff in which officers tried to get the man to surrender, according to APD Spokesperson Tanner Tixier.
The man eventually came out of his apartment unit, Tixier said, but not to surrender.
“I don’t know if the shots were fired directly at officers or not, but we do know the individual fired his firearm,” Tixier said. “Officers with our department returned fire, striking the subject.”
No officers were wounded in the incident, APD says. However, while witnesses told KOB they heard up to seven gunshots, they said they didn’t believe the suspect had a gun.
“From the victim’s girlfriend, told me that he doesn’t even have – he was a security guard – he doesn’t have his service weapon,” said nearby resident Katherine White. “He doesn’t have his pistol, no firearm in there for this to happen.”
Another witness, Patrick Estrada, told KOB that the man was “surrendering like a normal person would” and that officers “shot him for no reason.”
Tixier said that the responding officers all were wearing lapel cameras.
“But whether we have actual footage of the shooting, we don’t know yet,” he said.
APD is expected to provide more details on what led to the shots being fired as the investigation continues.
Dallas Street was cut off between Chico and Domingo for a brief time Sunday afternoon as police investigated the scene.
KOB
