By Ryan Boetel
Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico State Police officer shot an armed man at the end of an hours-long standoff on Interstate 25 in Valencia County on Saturday afternoon, according to police.
The man was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital and his condition wasn’t known, State Police spokesman Sgt. Chad Pierce said. Police didn’t release his name.
I-25 was shut down by police in both directions between Los Lunas and Belen for most of the day, starting around 7 a.m. It hadn’t reopened by 10 p.m. Pierce said police were being thorough and were still investigating late into the night. The lanes were closed from the Main Street exit at Los Lunas south for about eight miles.
The incident began around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, when Pierce said a State Police officer tried to pull over the suspect’s vehicle near Coors and Blake SW in Albuquerque. The man fled southbound, merging onto N.M. 314 and eventually back onto I-25, heading north.
Police used spike strips to stop the fleeing truck in the middle of the interstate south of Los Lunas. The man held a gun to his head and threatened suicide during a lengthy standoff. During that time, officers called for crisis negotiation teams from the Albuquerque Police Department and State Police, which spoke with the man and his family, according to a State Police news release. Police also had a Bearcat and a Rook, which are armored vehicles, a robot and a medical helicopter on scene.
Pierce said that around 12:30 p.m. the man threatened officers with the weapon and a State Police officer shot him.
No officers were injured during the incident.
It is the second shooting involving State Police recently. A sergeant shot a man carrying a revolver Nov. 28 outside of Farmington.
©2014 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.)