By: ABQ RAW staff
Posted: June 30th, 2023 @ 6:00AM
APD police officers stand near the scene of a deadly officer involved shooting that left one suspect dead and two others wounded.
NE, Albuquerque – The Albuquerque Police Department is currently investigating a critical incident in which one individual died on scene from an officer involved shooting. This incident occurred just before 10pm on June 29th, near the area of 925 San Pedro DR NE. Officers made contact with an individual near the area of Lomas BL NE and Louisiana BL NE a short time later.
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This incident is now being investigated as an officer involved shooting. The area around Louisiana and Lomas was locked down as police investigated the scene. While we were on scene we heard 8 to 10 shots fired in the distance unrelated to this incident.
An adult male was dead on scene just north of Lomas on Louisiana Blvd. An APD police car was in front of the body where the officer involved shooting occurred. We observed a black sedan being towed away from the the crime scene.
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video footage from scene
Media were asked to stage at Kentucky and Lomas Blvd with the promise that APD would provide a media briefing. KRQE, KOAT, and ABQ RAW were all at the media staging area patiently waiting for a briefing.
Members of the media waited at the stated staging area starting at 1:30AM waiting for any update from APD’s PIO department. At 2:37AM, civilian PIO Gilbert Gallegos emailed all news desks stating sound would be given at 3AM. At 3:49AM, APD’s PIO Twitter page uploaded a 1:30 video clip of Deputy Chief Michael Smathers giving a clandestine briefing to an audience of Gilbert Gallegos only. In the statement to “media” Deputy Chief Smathers gives limited information about the incident and suspiciously lacks reporters being able to ask questions about the shooting incident.
This is the second time this year the APD public information office has pulled a stunt pretending to have a media briefing.
A multi agency task force will most likely investigate the shooting. Typically at a later date APD holds a controlled press conference where they release body camera footage with names and other information about what lead to the shooting.
This is Albuquerque’s 68th homicide for 2023. Since an APD officer is the shooter the DA’s office will most likely consider this a justified homicide after the investigation is complete.