New video shows Doña Ana County Sheriff’s deputy shoot Chaparral man five times during theft-in-progress call

CHAPARRAL, New Mexico (KVIA) -- ABC-7 has obtained footage that shows a Doña Ana County Sheriff's Deputy shooting and killing a man suspected of theft in Chaparral.

The shooting took place on April, 29th.

The new footage, which came from a doorbell camera directly across the street from the incident, was given to ABC-7 by a viewer.

It shows the deputy firing five shots at the suspect, three of which appeared to be while the suspect was already on the ground.

The release of this footage comes after Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart released deputy-worn lapel camera footage during a May, 1st news conference that showed the moments leading up to the death of 38-year-old Jose Guzman.

Officials say he was suspected of stealing items from someone's yard near Luna Azul and Prescott Anthony Dr. in Chaparral.

Stewart said in the news conference that the responding deputy found Guzman had an active no-bail warrant, and attempted an arrest.

A short pursuit then ensued, which resulted in the deputy deploying his stun gun at Guzman, causing him to fall to the ground.

That led to a nearly five minute struggle between the deputy and Guzman.

The Sheriff says Guzman was able to escape from the deputy’s grasp, grab the stun gun, which had fallen on the ground, and then pointed it at him.

The last frame of deputy-worn lapel camera video that was released shows Guzman pointing the stun gun at the deputy.

Stewart said Guzman presented potential lethal force to the deputy by grabbing and pointing the stun gun.

In a new doorbell camera video ABC-7 obtained, we found there were an additional 18 seconds after the deputy-worn lapel video ends before shots were fired.

The doorbell camera video shows Guzman and the deputy continuing to walk in the middle of the road before the deputy fires at Guzman.

Guzman continues to walk forward after being shot once, and is then shot a second time, which is when he falls on the ground.

The deputy then fires three more times at Guzman while shouting "drop it."

ABC-7 spoke with Guzman's father, who wishes to keep his identity concealed, and we showed him the footage.

"You vi en el video que le apuntó con la pistola mi chavalo al policía, pero en ese rato le hubiera pegado el policía de frente," said Guzman's father.

He said he saw his son pointing the stun gun at the deputy, but he wondered why the deputy didn't shoot him at that time. He also questioned why the deputy shot him in the back.

"Ya no era necesario. Y luego ya en el suelo. Ya lo habia tirado," he added.

He said it wasn't necessary to shoot his son when he was already on the ground. He also told ABC-7 that he knew his son suffered from mental health struggles.

Due to the potential lethal force that Sheriff Stewart said Guzman presented to the deputy involved, ABC-7 decided to show both the lapel video and doorbell video to Shane Brisco, a retired lieutenant with the Las Cruces Police Department, and an expert in the use of force in law enforcement.

“I would be terrified," said Brisco, refferring to incidents involving stun guns.

"I’ve been shot with a taser, I know that it’s capable of incapacitating," he added.

While Brisco said while there simply isn't enough information available from the investigation yet to give an opinion on if the deputy responded appropriately or not, he did provide insight into what goes through law enforcement officers' minds during these type of situations.

Brisco said there are an influx of things that a law enforcement officer has to keep in mind during use of force incidents, including questioning if a suspect still poses a threat after they appear to be incapacitated.

“It’s easy to look at a video like this, and think ‘well, the officer acted wrongly,’ which could easily be your first impression, but use of force incidents are incredibly complex, [and] incredibly stressful for everyone involved," he said.

"I don’t think it would be responsible to pass judgement until there’s been a thorough, complete investigation, and those things unfortunately take time," he added.

Brisco adds in these incidents, its not uncommon for a law enforcement officer to "shoot more rounds than an observer would deem appropriate," simply due to adrenaline and other factors such as fear and terror, and that it may not have registered with the officer that the treat has stopped.

Sheriff Stewart told ABC-7 Tuesday that she had no comment on the doorbell video.

We'll be sure to bring you updates both on-air and online at KVIA.com as the investigation continues.