Police shooting at gated Tanoan community
Man’s condition critical after officers called to take him to hospital
A man in his mid-20s is in critical condition after he was shot by Albuquerque police in the gated Tanoan community on Thursday afternoon.
Officers went to the Tanoan home after the man’s father called police. The man who was shot by police had been saying he was afraid he was going to hurt his parents and wanted to be taken to the hospital, and that prompted his father to call authorities, according to the Albuquerque Police Department.
Police say the caller reported that his son, Max Mitnik, had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, had not been taking his medication and had not slept for two days.
According to an APD news release:
Officers arrived and made contact with Mitnik in the front yard. He said he no longer wanted officers to take him to the hospital and instead wanted his parents to do it. Shortly after Mitnik went back into the house, officers heard a woman say, “Help, he’s got a knife.”
“Once inside the house, Max walked out of a bathroom and toward an officer,” the release states. “The officer fired at least one shot, striking Max at least once.”
Officers rendered aid and later took Mitnik to the hospital. APD said no one else was injured in the incident.
APD Deputy Chief Harold Medina said at a news conference Thursday afternoon that a knife was recovered at the scene. He said a mobile crisis team with a clinician had been dispatched to the scene to try to help Mitnik.
“We do believe there were other witnesses in the house at the time, and we’ll work to see what information we can gather from them if they’re willing to cooperate with us,” Medina said.
Police say they’ll likely charge Mitnik with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. Mitnik does not appear to have a serious criminal history in New Mexico. Medina couldn’t immediately say if APD had previous
contact with him.
Several people who live nearby told the Journal they didn’t see or hear anything related to the incident.
Dozens of police vehicles and two mobile crime labs crowded the upscale neighborhood Thursday afternoon.
The Multi-Agency Task Force is investigating the shooting, APD says.