Albuquerque –
In a press conference held yesterday, the Albuquerque Police Department stated homicides were down for quarter 1 (Q1) 2025, with a total of 11. For 2024, in Q1 there were 21 homicides counted by APD.
It’s important to clarify that when APD presented Q1 2025 statistics, they are referring to the period from January 1st to March 31st. Below, we have shared the Homicide PDF sheet published by the APD Department for the months of January, February, and March. For Q1 2025, APD has counted four homicides as “justifiable homicides.“
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However, as we frequently mention here at ABQRAW, the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) does not have a separate category or classification for justifiable homicides in its definition of homicides. There is no such distinction between the two, the OMI categorizes all homicides as homicides. It is also worth noting that in many cases, when a “justifiable homicide” occurs, there is still a violent crime or incident transpiring, such as a home being broken into or another person protecting themselves from a perceived threat.
The OMI determines the cause of death using the following categories: natural, homicide, suicide, accident, undetermined, and pending. Pending is not a final category; it’s temporary, while the OMI waits for toxicology results and additional information from law enforcement, all of which helps the OMI finalize the cause of death.
The homicide count reported by the Office of the Medical Investigator is the official statistic we report. This figure includes deaths within the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County area that are subject to investigation by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO), New Mexico State Police (NMSP), and on rare occasions, federal law enforcement agencies. Just as an example of this, on February 17, there was a Kirtland Air Force Base Officer Involved shooting at 1608 Truman St SE, which was off of Kirtland Air Force Base. APD initially responded to investigated it, but the FBI took over. This homicide is not counted in APD’s or BCSO’s totals, but still happened in Albuquerque.
It is also important to note the the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s manual on reporting data to the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) system is very clear as to what deaths may be reported as “justifiable homicides.” They say:
- A killing can only be called a “justifiable homicide” (like killing in self-defense or while stopping a crime) if it’s connected to another crime happening at the same time—like a robbery or assault. That separate crime also has to be officially reported (go to the FBI’s UCR see pg 44).
- Also, when the person who was killed is the one committing the crime, the case must be marked as “cleared by exceptional means,” which is a specific way of closing a case when the suspect is known but can’t be arrested (for example, because they’re dead). For details of “cleared by exceptional means” go to the FBI’s UCR pages 80-81.
- Importantly, law enforcement shouldn’t label a killing as justified just because someone says it was self-defense or because a coroner, prosecutor, jury, or judge decides not to file charges. They need more solid evidence to make that determination.
In double-checking APD’s statistics with our own, we observed that APD is also not counting the justifiable homicide that occurred on March 11, 2025, where two individuals were shot and killed on Montgomery. In this incident, a homeless TikToker named TophiaChu, her mother, and her brother were carjacked. The brother was fatally shot, and the mother was in critical condition at the time of transport. The suspect fled toward Montgomery Blvd and crashed into a Jeep near Marla NE. A security guard from a nearby apartment complex witnessed the chaos, heard the pleas for help, intervened, and fatally shot the suspect, bringing the violent ordeal to an end. It is unknown why APD is not counting the death of the suspect in their “justifiable homicide” count (first photo).
Below is APD’s January 2025 Homicide PDF sheet, and beneath that we detail incidents not included in APD’s count.
The January homicides that were not included in the APD Q1 statistics are:
- On 1/19/2025, BCSO investigated a murder at 201 Prosperity Ave SE.
- On 1/24/2025, an officer-involved shooting by APD resulted in a death at 3958 Montgomery Blvd NE.
- On 1/27/2025, APD was involved in an officer-involved shooting at 9707 Woodland Ave NE.
- On 1/29/2025, APD investigated a shooting at 557 Tramway Blvd NE, which was ruled justifiable.
The February homicides not included in APD’s count are as follows:
- On 2/11/2025, BCSO deputies fatally shot a subject during a deputy-involved shooting at 3500 Coors Blvd SW.
- On 2/16/2025, BCSO investigated a murder-suicide at 17 Mulberry Lane.
- On 2/22/2025, a Kirtland Air Force Base military police officer was involved in a fatal shooting near 1608 Truman St SE.
- On 2/23/2025, APD officers fatally shot a subject at 11605 Mountain Rd NE.
- On 2/28/2025, APD was involved in another fatal officer-involved shooting at 12200 Montgomery Blvd NE.
The March homicides that were not included in APD’s Q1 statistics are:
- On 3/6/2025, a BCSO deputy was involved in a fatal shooting in the 500 block of Live Oak Pl NE.
- On 3/7/2025, APD investigated a fatal shooting at 1333 Columbia Dr SE. In this incident, over 30 rounds were fired, it was ruled justifiable.
- On 3/11/2025, APD investigated two separate shootings. The first shooting occurred near Montgomery Park by San Mateo Blvd. In this incident, a TikTok influencer’s brother was killed during an attempted carjacking, and a security guard later shot and killed the carjacker. On APD’s official total (blue photo above), they are reporting that this first incident happened at 2912 Ponderosa Ave NE, which is not what the PIO originally reported to the media or the public. Initially, the public was told “Officers were initially called around 3:30 a.m. about a shooting in the area of Montgomery Park near San Mateo Blvd. Shortly after that, a vehicle involved in the shooting crashed in the area of 6801 Montgomery Blvd., N.E. A second shooting occurred following the crash.” The second shooting took place near 6801 Montgomery Blvd NE, when a security guard shot the offender/suspect, and it was ruled justifiable. The justifiable homicide is not counted by APD, see the first photo at the top of the page.
- On 3/21/2025, APD responded to an attempted carjacking near 901 Tramway Blvd NE. The vehicle owner fatally shot one of the teens who brandished a gun, and the shooting was ruled justifiable.
- On 3/28/2025, APD responded to a shooting death at 5324 San Mateo Blvd NE, which was also ruled justifiable.
At ABQRAW, we report homicide data based on the Office of the Medical Investigator’s classification—without separating justifiable from non-justifiable. We will continue to compare APD’s quarterly homicide statistics with our own data based on OMI classifications and share those updates with the public.