Warrant IDs officers in recent shooting

Carjacking suspect, victim both injured by police fire

A warrant to search a Ford Expedition that a suspect tried to carjack before he and the victim were shot by police identifies the officers who fired their weapons.

Albuquerque police officers Mel Acata, Paul Bellgardt and James Ortiz all shot at Lee Brandenburg, who was trying to flee from police and carjack a Santa Fe woman, according to the warrant.

Brandenburg was shot in both his legs and Becky Nottke, of Santa Fe, was shot in her left leg, according to the warrant. Both survived.

Celina Espinoza, a police spokeswoman, said that all three officers have returned to active duty.

Brandenburg, 41, remained jailed on Thursday in connection to several felony cases against him, according to jail records.

Around noon on Feb. 10, a bail bondsman called police to report that Brandenburg had pointed a gun at him and fled from a motel in the 5000 block of Ellison NE. The bondsman was trying to take Brandenburg into custody after skipping on his bond but, when confronted, Brandenburg pointed a firearm at his own head and then at the bondsman, and fled, according to the search warrant affidavit, which was filed in the 2nd Judicial District court on Thursday.

The affidavit said police in the area spotted Brandenburg, who ran toward the Cracker Barrel in the 5400 block of San Antonio NE. Brandenburg kept pointing his weapon at his own head when police gave him orders.

He then ran to a nearby parking lot where he first tried to steal a man’s Audi A3, then a Chevy Corvette that was locked and then he started pounding on the window of a Ford Expedition Nottke was driving.

That’s when Acata, Bellgardt and Ortiz “discharged their firearms towards Mr. Brandenburg and stopped his actions,” according to

the affidavit.

The document doesn’t say how many times the officers fired. The Expedition was marked with bullet holes and its back window was broken.

The warrant is seeking proof of ownership, bullets and fragments, blood and trace evidence, and to photograph evidence.

The shooting marked the third time Albuquerque police officers have fired their weapons on duty in 2017. Officers shot and killed Gilbert Lovato, who police were trying to arrest, on Jan. 7 and, on Jan. 26, police shot at and missed Moses Hernandez.