Update: Friends Remember Teen Who Shot Himself After Officer-Involved Altercation

Jonathan Hernandez is in mourning. He was close friends with 19 year old Salome Alvarez Jr., a Montana Vista teen who shot himself Friday afternoon after an altercation with a sheriff’s deputy.

“I’m heartbroken. I can’t cry no more,” he told ABC-7 at the scene of the deadly shooting. Just feet away from Mountain View High School, blood stains remain on a dirt path.

According to sheriff’s officials at around 4:30 p.m. Friday, a sheriff’s deputy saw three suspicious people walking along Gregg road near the school.

The deputy stopped the three, including Alvarez. Sheriff’s officials say Alvarez heard the information on the deputy’s radio that there was a warrant out for him and he took off running. The deputy chased him down and the suspect allegedly tried to take the deputy’s taser away.

The physical confrontation continued and the teen got the gun from the deputy and shot himself in the head, sheriff’s officials said.

Olga Arrieta says she and her 13-year-old daughter witnessed the deadly shooting unfold. Arrieta said she saw Alvarez take the deputy’s gun and point it at the officer before turning the weapon on himself. “His friends were screaming, telling him ‘Don’t do it!'” she said.

Still, Hernandez is skeptical about the circumstances surrounding his friend’s death. “I know my friend, he wouldn’t commit suicide,” he said.

Hernandez wondered how an unarmed teenager could overpower an officer. El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles admits, “it’s kind of alarming that a subject was able to pull the weapon out of the officer’s holster like that.”

The sheriff’s office maintains there was no wrongdoing on the deputy’s part. The deputy’s identity has not been released, but he is on administrative leave as internal affairs conducts an investigation. That’s standard procedure.

“(Alvarez) was a real soft person from the heart, he just had a really bad temper if you pushed him,” said Hernandez.

Court records show a string of arrest records in Alvarez’s name, including charges for felony aggravated assault, misdemeanor evading arrest and criminal trespass. The sheriff’s office put out a news release saying there are several other arrest records of Alvarez as a juvenile, including an incident where he allegedly took a patrol unit for a “joy ride.”

Despite his rough past, friends say Alvarez was trying to clean up his act by attending courses at EPCC. “He was a real tough person, but he was changing. We’re always going to have him in our hearts,” said Hernandez.