An armed man accused of a carjacking was shot and killed after he exchanged gunfire with Albuquerque police officers as he tried to flee on foot.
By Matthew Reisen. Source Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Officers exchanged gunfire with a carjacking suspect, killing him Wednesday evening near a ditch in Northeast Albuquerque, according to police.
The incident marked the fourth fatal shooting by police or deputies in the Albuquerque area in less than a month, and the fifth time they had exchanged gunfire with a suspect.
Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said no officers were injured, and the man was pronounced dead at the scene. He said multiple officers fired in the incident.
He said police responded around 6:30 p.m. to the area of Osuna and Seagull NE after a man was reportedly carjacked at gunpoint. Gallegos said undercover officers working an operation in the area tracked down the carjacking suspect and followed him.
He said soon after, marked police vehicles arrived to take over near Eubank and Spain. Gallegos said the driver got out of the car and fled down a walking path near an arroyo as police gave chase.
“At some point he turned and fired at least one round at officers,” he said.
Gallegos said multiple officers returned fire, killing the man.
Albuquerque police have been involved in five shootings this year, four of them in the past 30 days. Each shooting was fatal except on March 29 when, according to police, officers exchanged gunfire with a homicide suspect near a motel, causing him to surrender.
During that incident, officers were already in the area working an operation targeting hotels known for high crime when a security guard inside the hotel was gunned down.
Something similar happened Wednesday night.
During a briefing at the scene, Police Chief Harold Medina said the undercover officers were already in the area working an operation to combat “the increase in robberies that we’ve seen throughout the city” when the suspect carjacked someone close by.
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