Police shoot and kill suspect believed to be barricaded inside vehicle

Las Cruces police officers shot and killed a 52-year-old man who officers believed was barricaded inside a car.

Shortly before 11:30 a.m. Monday, July 17, Las Cruces Police were dispatched to the report of a suspicious person on the 1700 block of Rio Grande St. The caller told dispatch the suspicious person was possibly armed with a knife.

Police officials said the first officer to arrive located the suspect near the back of a black Honda sedan parked on Arizona Avenue. Investigators believe the officer encountered the armed suspect and fired “at least one round,” officials said.

Investigators believed the suspect barricaded himself in the back seat of the vehicle and was refusing commands to exit the vehicle.

Believing the suspect to be armed and barricaded, police decided to activate the SWAT team.

“Somebody’s armed with a gun, believd to be barricaded inside a vehicle – we can’t just walk up to that vehicle,” Police Spokesman Dan Trujillo said. “And so we have to do all that we can. So, that’s why we have the SWAT team. That’s why we the SWAT team had its armored vehicle out there. We had two barricades out there, which are armored vehicles to protect officers.”

Trujillo said the police department took every precaution it could because it did not know what was going to happen and did not want to risk anybody’s life.

Police said a diversionary device was detonated with no reaction from the suspect. At that point, officers approached the vehicle and found the suspect unresponsive with “at least one gunshot wound.”

Officers also located a handgun in the vehicle, police said. The suspect was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured during the incident.

The suspect’s body will be transported to the New Mexico medical investigator’s office for autopsy. The officer will be placed on administrative leave which is standard procedure for such an incident.