APD chief said November police shooting part of 'concerning' trend: men pulling guns on officers

The Albuquerque Police Department on Thursday gave a play-by-play of a November shooting in which detectives shot an armed auto theft suspect during a foot chase near West Central.

Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock, who oversees APD’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, said officers Jason Allred, Beau Wright-Brown, Daniel Yurcisim and Adrian Miranda fired 25 bullets at 35-year-old Efren Ramirez.

He said Ramirez was struck by eight of those bullets and remained hospitalized in critical condition more than a month after the Nov. 16 shooting.

Lapel video released Thursday showed Ramirez had a gun in his hand for much of the foot chase and refused to drop it. He can be seen turning toward police — the gun pointed in their direction — twice.

The second time, police opened fire.

Hartsock said the four officers are detectives in APD’s auto theft unit, and none has been involved in a prior police shooting. APD would not release images of the detectives and redacted their faces from video because, according to police, they serve in undercover operations.

Ramirez is charged with aggravated assault upon a peace officer with a deadly weapon, auto theft and lesser charges in the incident.

Sylvia Duran, Ramirez’s partner, told the Journal by phone that the family has not been able to visit him. She said he’s in a coma, but breathing on his own, and has a colostomy bag.

Duran said not being there with Ramirez has been agonizing for her, his parents and his siblings.

“All I want is for them to let us see him,” she said, breaking down into tears. “It is totally wrong. ... We’re not going to try to take him from the hospital or anything. We just want to see him.”

The incident was the 13th Albuquerque police shooting this year.

It was also one of three police shootings in the past two months during which, according to APD, officers gave an armed man time to drop a gun before firing their weapons.

APD Chief Harold Medina said Thursday that it is unclear if Ramirez will survive his injuries. Medina said, given the aforementioned trend, he wanted to hear Ramirez’s side of the story on why he didn’t drop the gun.

“This is one of those concerning ones. ... It’s kind of like he’s using the handgun as a means to keep the officers from putting hands on him to take him into custody,” Medina said. “And as we get into the other officer-involved shootings, we’re going to see this trend that we’re really concerned about.”

The shooting stemmed from the burglary of a storage unit belonging to an Albuquerque firefighter. It was reported in October that a pickup truck with 11 guns inside had been taken from the unit.

Hartsock said a bulletin was sent out Oct. 30 alerting law enforcement to be on the lookout for the truck. He said on Nov. 16, auto theft detectives found the truck near Uptown and tried to pull it over.

Hartsock said the driver — later identified as Ramirez — fled the traffic stop and dropped off a passenger nearby before heading toward the West Side. APD’s helicopter followed the truck to a strip mall on 98th and Central, where Ramirez parked and went into an alley behind El Mezquite Market.

Video from the helicopter and detectives’ body-worn cameras showed police approach Ramirez in the alley and he runs down an adjacent dirt road. Lapel video showed officers pointing their guns at Ramirez, who is holding a gun in his hand, and telling him to drop it.

One officer fired a less-lethal foam round at Ramirez, but he continued to jog away from detectives, still holding the gun. Several detectives ran after him, yelling, “Drop that gun” and “You’re going to get shot.”

Ramirez is seen turning toward police for the second time, with the gun pointed toward them, when four detectives opened fire on him. In the video, Ramirez falls to the ground screaming and the gun can be seen resting on the ground beside him.

Hartsock said they recovered the stolen truck but none of the 11 guns were inside. He said they traced the gun Ramirez had and discovered it was bought in 2013 by a New Mexico resident.

Hartsock said the person who bought the gun was not related to Ramirez, and police have tried to contact the buyer without success.

“We are still looking into the history of the gun and how it got into his hands,” he said.