“I am Dead, You Guys Killed Me, Thanks!” 16 Rounds Fired by APD in Crowded Downtown Scene

Albuquerque –

The Albuquerque Police Department command staff released new details in a deadly July 4th, 2026 weekend. The wafting of cigarette smoke and alcohol filled the air in Downtown Albuquerque earlier than normal. The downtown smells were soon mixed with the smell of gunpowder and violence after a wild west type incident that occurred just before midnight on July 3rd, 2026.

On July 31st, 2026, APD command staff held a press conference and released police body camera, witness videos, and APD’s facts from the case.

The person APD shot and killed was identified as local 41-year-old TikToker Stephen Griego of Albuquerque. He posted alot of late night Downtown Albuquerque content and on June 20th, 2026 he was attacked by unruly teens and contacted the police. He was pepper sprayed by one of the teens. Later, Griego posted a video on social media about the incident. “I’ll be prepared this time, so they ain’t gonna roll up on me like that.”

The late hours of July 3rd, 2026, Griego was riding an e-scooter in the area of Central Ave and 3^rd St. shortly before midnight on July 3. A video later posted on social media showed Griego interact with people at the northwest corner of the intersection. Griego is heard on the video saying, “You gotta watch out for those two,” as he pointed at two men standing nearby. The men were later identified as Juan Ortega and Richard Thyberg.

The video showed Ortega, who was wearing a white T-shirt, approach Griego as the two men exchanged words. Ortega attempted to push Griego, then struck him as Griego jumped off the scooter. Griego maneuvered around a street barrier and pulled out a handgun from his waistband.

As Ortega and Thyberg also maneuvered around the street barrier, Griego shot Thyberg who retreated backward after the gunshot. The video showed Ortega continue forward toward Griego. The person recording the video fled from the area and the video did not catch the rest of the confrontation. After about 6 second, a second gunshot was heard, followed by a volley of several shots.

APD released body camera footage and prior to the incident it shows officers standing together looking at their cell phones and passing them back in forth laughing at what appears to be a video with a woman on it. This was shown on Officer Preston Harris’ body camera. We followed up with APD on what the officers were looking at on their phones and they haven’t gotten back to us. Albuquerque Police Department policy permits personal phone use on duty only when it is minimal and does not interfere with official duties

Officer Harris is the officer who tried to intimidate and move our journalist out of a public space while filming an incident a month earlier. He shined his highpowered flashlight into our camera lens and caused our camera to be damaged.

In the July 3rd incident, he heard the two gunshots fired by Griego and rushed to the area where the altercation occurred. Officer Harris is the first to run toward the gunfire and immediately opens fire on Griego. APD identified the sergeant as Ralph Rodriguez, two officers Jed Jeffries, and Diana Magallanes The sergeant and 2 other officers opened fire. The sergeant motions to cease fire and yells stop to officers in the barrage of gun fire. APD says a total of 16 rounds were fired by the four officers.

The APD shooters were firing in the direction of Griego and it was revealed Griego used a gun that was stolen from a friend. The friend did NOT formally report the gun stolen to police.

Detectives later determined that Griego sustained six gunshot wounds. 16 shots were fired by officers with some rounds hitting property around downtown Albuquerque.

Officer Preston Harris, who initially yelled at Griego to stop, later told detectives he fired his weapon after he saw Griego continue to advance toward Ortega, who was already on the ground with a gunshot wound. He said he fired to stop the immediate threat.

Following the shooting, officers approached both Griego and Ortega and placed them into handcuffs. Griego was transported to a local hospital, but later died as a result of his wounds. Ortega was also transported to the hospital with a non-life-threating gunshot wound to his hip.

Griego is heard on the video saying:

“I am dead, you guys killed me! Thanks!”

While on scene at the shooting on July 3rd, we had drunk and sober people tell us ambulance took a long time to transport the gunshot victims. We reached out to AFR to see the response times for transporting victims and they said they are looking into the information.

Officers located a blood trail leading south on 3^rd Street from the area of the first gunshot, but they did not immediately locate a victim. Detectives learned the next day that Thyberg was at an urgent care facility being treated for a gunshot wound. Detectives interviewed Thyberg, who said he was shot by Griego.

A fourth person struck by gunfire was located further east on a sidewalk along Central Ave., between 2^nd St. and 3^rd St. Officers quickly determined that man was a bystander who appeared to have been struck by a stray bullet. The bystander was transported to a hospital with a non-life-threating injury. He has since been released.

Preliminary evidence suggests the round came from one of the officers’ firearms, however the source of the bullet cannot be confirmed until there is a ballistics and trajectory analysis. A vehicle was also struck by a bullet. No information was given on where that round came from.

At the press conference we asked APD Chief Cecily Barker APD personnel are responsible for every round they fire. She said yes. We followed up why?

“Because that’s, you know, we have to be responsible for any action that we take, whether or not firing a firearm, any type of use of force might have to be justification using some,” said Chief Barker.

We asked if all APD personnel who were part of this shooting were back on duty. APD was not clear which were returning and which ones were still not on duty.

From left to right is: Officer Preston Harris, Officer Jed Jeffries, Sgt. Ralph Rodriguez, and Officer Diana Magallanes