Last night’s shootings is the second fatal shooting by APD officers in just ten days. The circumstances of this shooting, like a number of recent shootings by the department, are very much in dispute:
Police say the incident started at about 9 p.m. Tuesday when officers responded to a 911 call about a man pointing a gun at a kid.
Police say when they got to the complex on 60th Street and Avalon Northwest, the suspect exited an apartment with a gun and fired the weapon. At least one officer returned fire.
The suspect was rushed to the hospital and died, according to police. The officers involved were not injured.
Witnesses tell a different story about the shooting.
There was cellphone video captured that could be hard to watch. Now, this video of last night shooting has been posted on YouTube by a man named Bob Cornelius. On his Facebook page, he says it was recorded by a neighbor and viewers can hear the shots fired.
Neighbors say they gave their cellphone to the suspect’s sister who called her brother who was in the home with his nephews. They say the sister told him to come out of the home because police said they would not use lethal force.
The witnesses say the nephews exited the home first then the suspect came out with one hand up and the other hand holding the phone to his ear.
Police told the sister to have him put the phone down and when he dropped his hand, police shot him. The witnesses say they did not see a gun on the suspect.
Well, some of the witnesses say he was unarmed.
The neighbor who actually filmed the video says that he thinks the man had a firearm.
@Bob_Cornelius @SamanthaKRQE I filmed it, it was a gun the phone is a false statement!!
— nate (@NathansOnOne) March 26, 2014
Here’s the raw video, which I suspect is too grainy to be very useful. The man appears to have his hand up to his head, and then drops it rapidly to his side. Less than a second later, shots ring out and he drops rapidly out of view.
If the Albuquerque Police story is correct, then it should be relatively easy to prove that the suspect at least possessed a firearm. It evidence instead indicates that the suspect has a phone as some witnesses claim, then this may turn out to be more fodder for the federal investigation into APD training, tactics, and procedures.
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