Alamogordo police officer’s murderer gets additional prison sentence

ALAMOGORDO, New Mexico (KVIA) -- Dominic De La O, the man convicted of murdering Alamogordo Police Officer Anthony Ferguson, has received another prison sentence, this time for federal firearms offenses.

Court records state that De La O used a sawed-off shotgun in the July 2023 murder. De La O was trying to escape a traffic stop when the situation escalated into a shooting. Ferguson died of his injuries the next day. De La O was convicted of first-degree murder late last year.

"An 8-year federal sentence for violations of federal firearms laws running consecutive to De La O’s state life sentence guarantees that he will never again see the outside of a prison cell," United States Attorney Ryan Ellison, an Alamogordo native, said. "Acts of violence against those who serve and protect our communities will not be tolerated and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. It was my great privilege to meet with Officer Ferguson’s family and to personally prosecute this case to ensure that justice was served."

Jonah Apodaca, the man accused of providing the sawed-off shotgun to De La O, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison, prosecutors say.