Police shoot, wound suspect on West Side
Incident started when woman told neighbors boyfriend had beaten her
Police say they were returning fire when they shot and injured a domestic violence suspect in a West Side neighborhood Wednesday night.
By late morning Thursday, the 7900 block of Brady NW, near Unser and Bob McCannon NW, still showed signs of the chaos the night before.
Bullet holes scarred the area — showing up on a living room window, a mailbox and multiple vehicles.
Neighbors recalled hearing dozens of rounds fired before the shootout was over.
It all started around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, when a woman ran to her neighbors’ house and asked them to call 911, saying her 32-year-old boyfriend
had beaten her up, according to officer Tanner Tixier, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department.
He said she had swelling and bruising on her face as well as on her shoulder and arm on one side of her body.
The woman said her boyfriend had a gun and was drunk. Police were told he might want to commit “suicide by cop,” Tixier said.
He said that when officers arrived they formed a plan to approach the boyfriend — who was outside the house and armed with a handgun.
They ordered him to drop the gun, but he didn’t.
Then, Tixier said, they shot him with a less-than-lethal 40mm sponge round.
“Officers deployed a less lethal weapon, which was not successful,” Tixier wrote in an email. “The male suspect then began firing numerous rounds at officers, and officers returned fire.”
The suspect was shot in the chest and leg and was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital. He was in serious but stable condition Thursday. No police officers were injured. Tixier said four officers have been put on paid administrative leave but he’s not sure whether they all had fired their weapons.
He said detectives had not interviewed the suspect because he had been heavily medicated and in and out of surgery throughout the day. He said they will release his name after they have talked to him.
On Thursday morning, neighbors peered through their windows into the street as investigators packed up their tools and the mobile crime lab.
Children rode their scooters up and down the block searching for bullet holes. Orange evidence markers dotted vehicles, windows and the street.
Lori Olivarez, who lives nearby, said she heard too many shots to count.
“I thought it was not going to stop, and I said, ‘Let’s get inside and get on the ground,’ ” Olivarez said.
Tixier said he did not know how many rounds were fired or which bullets came from the officers and which came from the suspect.
“But I do know that rounds that impacted two police Tahoes were from him,” Tixier said.