Fatal shooting details revealed

fled. She said by that time two hours had passed.

“What took so long for you guys to call?” the officer asked.

Davidson replied, “Because we were in shock, we didn’t know what to do.”

The officer asked who shot Lovato, and Dominic pointed to his chest before breaking into sobs.

As the officer searched the car for the gun, he smelled marijuana and asked who was smoking.

“All of us were,” Davidson’s friend replied.

Another lapel video shows an officer knocking on the door to the apartment, his gun drawn.

“Albuquerque police, come to the door with your hands up and everything,” the officer announced. “Marlin, we want to make sure you’re okay.”

But there was no answer.

The officer opened the door to find Lovato’s body. He felt for a pulse before announcing him “10-7” — the police code for dead.

Davidson declined to comment on this story.

Lovato’s stepdad Ernest Coriz still doesn’t know what led to his stepson’s death.

He said Lovato moved with Davidson to Albuquerque a year ago but the two would visit him often on the Santo Domingo Pueblo.

“We just assumed they were happy together,” he said. “We wanted what was best for Marlin.”

Coriz said he learned of Lovato’s death when Davidson and her mother showed up to his home in tears.

He said the women told him Lovato had been killed but didn’t elaborate and left in less than a minute, before he could gather his thoughts or ask any questions.

“Bam — they were gone,” Coriz said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

He said he hadn’t heard from them since and hasn’t heard from police at all.

To his knowledge, police never contacted family to let them know Lovato was dead.

The next news Coriz heard was when a Sun Village apartment manager called to tell him to pick up his stepson’s things — Lovato’s father wasn’t in the picture and his mother had died of an illness six years ago.

“He had nobody,” Coriz said. “I loved this boy — this boy was my boy.”

Lovato’s shooting is the fifth shooting this year ruled self-defense by Albuquerque police. Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office also ruled a Tijeras shooting last week as self-defense. Of the six shootings, only two have been turned over to the District Attorney’s Office for review.