Two officers fired shots in deadly midtown standoff
Report says suspect, who died from injuries, threw ‘two makeshift explosive devices’ out window at cops
Two Santa Fe police officers fired multiple gunshots late Wednesday morning in a midtown apartment where a young man, evicted a day earlier, had broken in and then stabbed a social worker who was trying to help remove him from the home, New Mexico State Police said Thursday in a statement that shed more light on the deadly incident.
According to the statement, officers had been negotiating with 24-year-old Anthony Benavidez over a loudspeaker, trying to convince him to surrender, for nearly an hour when he threw two makeshift explosive devices out a window, “directly at officers.” That’s when police decided to enter the apartment and arrest Benavidez, the statement said. But as officers were trying to enter the residence, it said, two SWAT team officers began firing shots. It’s unclear what led them to discharge their weapons.
Benavidez was injured during the incident and died at a hospital Wednesday. Neither state police, who are investigating the incident, nor city police have said whether the gunfire caused his death.
No officers were injured, state police said, and Benavidez’s caseworker, who was stabbed in the abdomen, was released from the hospital following treatment.
The fatal encounter at Tuscany at St. Francis, a low-income apartment complex near the intersection of Siringo Road and South St. Francis Drive, comes days after another troubled young man in a confrontation with city police stabbed himself after officers fired a stun gun and beanbag rounds at him. Police said that man, who struggles with mental illness and homelessness, had been threatening people with a knife near the downtown area on the evening of July 14.
State police said Benavidez had been evicted from his apartment Tuesday because he had failed to appear at the Santa Fe County Magistrate Court for a July 7 hearing over a missed June rent payment of $276. He was put in the care of social workers Tuesday, the statement said.
But he was released on “his own volition” and returned to his former residence, broke a window and entered the home, state police said.
On Wednesday morning, officers requested the assistance of Benavidez’s caseworker to remove him from the apartment, state police said.
Around 10 a.m., the caseworker and officers approached the apartment “with the intent to contact him in a non-confrontational manner,” according to the state police statement, but Benavidez opened the door and stabbed the social worker.
An officer negotiated with Benavidez for about an hour over a loudspeaker as other officers set up a perimeter around the apartment and warned residents to stay inside their homes, witnesses told The New Mexican. A city police SWAT team arrived shortly after.
At 11 a.m., Benavidez threw “two improvised explosive devices from his window directly at officers,” state police said. “One device, later discovered to be a mixture of fireworks and flammable gas, did not function as intended and the second device emitted an appar-
ent chemical substance. Both devices landed within the direct proximity of officers.”
According to the statement, “Because of the potential danger posed by Mr. Benavidez’ actions and for the safety of the officers and public in the area, the decision was made to enter the apartment and arrest Mr. Benavidez.”
But, the statement said, “As officers attempted to gain entry, shots were fired by two Santa Fe Police Department SWAT officers. Life saving measures were administered on scene but Mr. Benavidez later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.”
The Santa Fe Police Department has put five officers on paid administrative leave, a standard procedure in such incidents. The names of the officers who fired their weapons will be released following interviews by investigators, state police have said.
State police Lt. Elizabeth Armijo, a spokeswoman for the agency, on Thursday said, “No interviews have been conducted with the officers on leave.”
John D’Amato, an Albuquerque lawyer who represents the Santa Fe police union, said he is not sure whether officers will give voluntary statements to investigators.
State police will turn over the results of their investigation to the state’s First Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Santa Fe to review whether the officers were justified in firing shots at Benavidez.
District Attorney Marco Serna, who took office in January, on Thursday said he’ll use a committee of three district attorneys from outside the jurisdiction to review the shooting.
Serna said earlier this year he would ask prosecutors from other jurisdictions to review another Santa Fe police shooting case, in which Officer Leonard Guzman killed 28-year-old Andrew Lucero outside a home near Eldorado following a police chase in a stolen vehicle.
Serna has said this procedure removes the conflict of interest that occurs when prosecutors investigate the police officers with whom they work.