BCSO Provides Details about Deputy-Involved Shooting outside Walmart Parking Lot

Albuquerque –

On February 27, 2025, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office discussed their deputy-involved shooting that transpired on February 11, 2025. The shooting happened just before noon in the Walmart parking lot located at 3500 Coors Blvd SW in ABQ’s South Valley.

According to BCSO, a license plate linked to a wanted individual was entered into NCIC by another agency in Michigan. The suspect, identified as Max Justin Marlatt (born September 9, 1992), was from Michigan and had an active first-degree felony warrant for Criminal Sexual Contact of a minor out of Hazel Park, MI. While authorities confirmed that Marlatt was wanted in another state for a sex crime involving a minor, they did not disclose further details due to the victim’s age and the sensitive nature of the crime. The warrant classified him as armed and dangerous. Marlatt did have a criminal history in Michigan which is listed below. BCSO stated that Marlatt had stolen a firearm from a relative.

BCSO issued a timeline for how the situation unfolded, which you can see in our YouTube video. On February 11, a license plate reader in a BCSO area command detected the license plate of the truck Marlatt was driving. They found the truck in the parking lot of the Walmart at 3500 Coors Blvd SW. As deputies exited their vehicles and identified themselves to Marlatt, who was seated in his truck, they first shouted out “Sheriff’s Department” and then issued multiple commands to “stop reaching.” When the suspect continued reaching for a firearm, shots by two deputies were fired, but Marlatt reportedly shot himself in the head.

Numerous evidentiary photos were provided, including images of the modified firearm, blood spatter on the barrel of the firearm, impact marks on the suspect’s truck, and other related evidence. This is all shown in the first YouTube Video below.

PATREON MEMBERS CAN SEE THE EXCLUSIVE VIDEO OF THE SCENE: https://www.patreon.com/posts/bcso-shot-and-of-122083647