2 dead after deputy pursuit of stolen pickup

ALBUQUERQUE — Two suspects in a stolen vehicle were killed by sheriff ’s deputies in Albuquerque on Friday, making it the second fatal shooting involving Bernalillo County deputies in a week.

At a morning news conference a few hours after the shooting, Sheriff Manuel Gonzales said the incident began shortly before 4 a.m.

A sheriff ’s office helicopter spotted a pickup that had been reported stolen. Deputies deployed a spike belt, which led to the truck driving erratically. Deputies stopped the vehicle near Coors Boulevard and Glenrio NW.

“Subsequently, the deputies felt threatened,” Gonzales said. “We don’t know how many shots were fired, but a shot was at least fired.”

Authorities pronounced two people in the truck dead. Two others in the truck were found uninjured and taken into custody.

Gonzales did not say why the deputies felt threatened or identify any of the four people in the truck. The deputies will be put on standard administrative leave, he added.

This is the third serious shooting incident involving deputies this month.

On Nov. 10, deputies engaged in a shootout with a man barricaded inside his home in northern Albuquerque. Gonzales said the suspect opened fire on deputies and four returned fire. The man was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds by SWAT officers.

Authorities believe the man had prompted a call earlier in the day about a possible aggravated assault in which a man was accused of pointing a gun at his father.

On Nov. 5, a sheriff ’s sergeant shot and wounded a domestic violence suspect.