By: ABQRAW staff
Posted: 12/2/2022 @ 1:00PM
Officer Steward’s view of driver
Full press conference video covering shooting from 11/5/2022
Albuquerque – The Albuquerque Police Department held a press conference regarding one of their recent officer involved shooting that happened November 5th, 2022. The shooting resulted in a man being killed while sitting in his crashed car. The incident happened on Tramway Blvd near Menaul NE. Officers had been dispatched to check on a vehicle which was crashed in the center median.
APD Police Chief Harold Medina speaking with the media.
“If you have a firearm in your car and decide to start drinking, simply unload the firearm and put it in the trunk and leave it there,” said Chief Harold Medina during the press conference.
Two officers responded to the scene and found the crashed out vehicle with heavy front end damage. When officers approached the vehicle they found two subjects inside the vehicle. Both occupants appeared to be heavily intoxicated adult males. The officers tried to get the individuals out of the car and according to the body camera footage it sounded like they were slurring their words and were incoherent.
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According to APD, Officer Steward and another officer responded to the car crash on the 1900 block of Tramway NE. When they arrived they observed a vehicle in the median facing southbound. One officer approached the passenger side of the vehicle and spoke to a male individual in the front passenger seat. The passenger stated he was okay and the officer had him exit the vehicle.
Officer Steward began to approach the driver side of the vehicle to check on the male driver. As Officer Steward approached the driver side of the vehicle, the other officer yelled out that the driver had a gun. Both officers gave verbal orders for the driver to drop the gun. Officer Steward fired his handgun and struck Sanchez several times. Sanchez died inside the vehicle.
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A zoomed in still image from the body camera footage showing Julian Sanchez handling a gun.
An interview was later conducted with Officer Steward who stated he heard his partner officer yell the driver had a gun, and that he observed the gun for himself. As he gave verbal commands for the driver to drop the weapon, he stated he believed that Sanchez had fired the gun and started to point it at him, so he fired back at the driver.
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The scene from the November 5th, 2022 involving an officer involved shooting.
A Multi-Agency Task Force will forward its case to the District Attorney’s Office to make any determination of criminal charges and an APD internal affairs investigation will determine if any discipline will be necessary for the officers involved.