UPDATE: APD Confirms Suicidal Man Had Shootout with APD

Albuquerque –

APD’s Chief Harold Medina briefed media at around 10:00PM on July 15 to go over the circumstances which led to the department’s latest fatal officer-involved shooting (OIS). Chief Medina said a man and woman were at their home on the 4900 block of Wellsburg NW, when there was some sort of domestic incident inside the home. The woman left the home and called 911 for police to come help.

Police said the man may have been suicidal and may have taken some unknown drugs before police arrived. While police were interviewing the woman, the man appeared in the backyard of the couple’s home and threatened them with a weapon. Police took cover and then police began negotiating with the man for over an hour.

Negotiations broke down because the man then appeared from a second story window of the couple’s home and began firing several rounds at police. According to Chief Medina, police did fire back at the man. At least one police car was shot several times by the man. No officers were injured during the exchange of gunfire.

The man then reappeared inside his open garage, and more shots were fired. He died inside the home’s garage. It is unclear at this point if the man killed himself or he was shot by police. Chief Medina stated that other homes may have been struck by gunfire and detectives are trying to figure it all out. Detectives and officials will be on scene till early morning investigating the scene further.

We talked to neighbors who were aghast that something like this could happen in their neighborhood and said the couple were never an issue in the neighborhood — until tonight. We will update this story if we learn more information.

This is the 10th Officer Involved Shooting involving APD this year. Seven of the shooting have been fatal, and three have not been fatal.