BCSO shoots, kills man during foot chase in S. Valley
Deputies were wearing on-body cameras
Around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, a family living in a bungalow-style home in the South Valley awoke to a commotion.
The homeowner, Sara, said she looked outside to see a man run through her backyard, shoot at the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies who were chasing him and get shot in return.
The whole event unfolded about 20 feet from her window, she said, and her husband and two kids — ages 17 and 6 — were also home.
“He was running and pulled out a gun from his jacket pocket …,”
she said. “It looked like he was kind of falling forward but he shot his gun and (the bullet hit the ground). And then the cops shot at him and then he turned back and he fired another shot at them, and that one hit our house. Then they shot him.” The man died at the scene. In an early morning news conference at the scene, Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales confirmed at least one deputy had shot and killed a man suspected of fighting at a nearby house.
He did not provide additional details about the shooting, identify the man or say whether the man had fired at deputies, but he did say the deputies were wearing their on-body cameras.
A BCSO spokeswoman did not answer additional questions Monday afternoon but said more information will be made available in the coming days.
It’s the first shooting deputies have been involved in since BCSO announced a week and a half ago that deputies are outfitted with on-body cameras in compliance with statewide legislation passed last summer. Their body-worn cameras should activate automatically if deputies start to run, fight or draw their weapons.
Gonzales said the incident started about 11:30 p.m. when deputies were called to a house on the 1000 block of Atrisco, south of Bridge SW, for a report of a shot being fired during a fight at a house.
He said as the deputies arrived they saw a person leaving the area and tried to make contact with him.
“That person fled from the scene …,” Gonzales said. “The deputies gave chase by foot. At that time there was a round fired.”
Gonzales said the incident was still being investigated and he did not know if anyone was injured in the initial fight. He said the deputies were still being processed and he didn’t know how many were involved in the shooting.
Sara, the homeowner, said investigators were in her backyard all night as they combed for evidence and they didn’t take the body away until sometime in the morning. She said investigators removed the bullet and a small chunk of stucco from where the round had embedded in her house.
“I can’t believe that just happened in our yard …,” she said. “After we realized he shot at the house … We could have gotten hit. I can’t believe this is happening.”