BCSO: Teen likely shot man in self-defense
Incident south of Tijeras under investigation
Last week deputies say a 14-year-old boy shot and killed a man who had threatened him with a gun in a sparsely populated area south of Tijeras.
No charges have been filed. Homicide Sgt. John Allen with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department said although detectives are still investigating, it looks as though the shooting was in self-defense.
Allen said on July 11 deputies were called to a home on Quail Hollow, off NM 337, for reports that a man, later identified as 67-year-old Andrew Ball, had threatened a teenage neighbor with a gun and had been shot.
“The gun was pointed at the juvenile’s head,” Allen said.
He said there was a fight over the firearm “and somehow we do know that the juvenile was able to get the firearm and protect himself. He did give warnings and he did fire a couple rounds hitting Ball.”
Allen said the teenager ran out of the home and 911 was called.
He said deputies arrived and didn’t hear anything from Ball when they called for him to come out. The SWAT team was called in and about three hours later deputies determined he was unresponsive and went in to find him dead from a gunshot wound.
“We did not know if Ball was dead at the time,” Allen said. “We don’t know how long he was in there, if he died immediately. We’re still waiting on autopsy results.”
Allen said detectives are conducting
interviews to determine exactly what happened and what prompted the fight. He said Ball and the teenager were friends and lived near each other.
“The juvenile, he’s going through a huge traumatic process — him and his family,” Allen said. “I can’t even imagine what they’re going through right now, as well as the Ball family.”
Ball’s son Jethro Ball said his father was originally from New York and had moved to New Mexico many years ago. He said Andrew, an army veteran, had worked as a pressman for several years and had recently retired.
“We are very saddened by this whole thing and we trust the men and women of BCSO to fully investigate this matter,” Jethro said in a statement. “A tragedy of this significance deserves careful consideration.”
He said he wish more had been done to save his father after he had been shot but he understands that the deputies have to stay safe themselves.
“I pray for the rehabilitation of the individual involved and I hope that they understand the severity of this event and find atonement for what has occurred in this house I grew up in,” Jethro said. “This was my home, now I don’t know what it is. God bless this neighborhood, we could really use it.”