Deputies release lapel video and detail fatal shooting of man in crisis

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said deputies became familiar with Brian Padilla and his delusions over several months. The agency says it offered help, but was most often turned away by Padilla or his family.

On March 6, a deputy fatally shot the 35-year-old as he approached holding a knife and scissors, his father watching close by. As Padilla rolled on the ground moaning, the father asked the deputy — who still had his gun on Padilla — to not shoot his son again.

Deputy Jeremy Ruckman didn’t fire again. Padilla later died at a hospital.

In a briefing Wednesday, BCSO showed lapel video and gave a play-by-play of the shooting, which unfolded seconds after Ruckman stepped from his patrol vehicle in the Albuquerque foothills neighborhood.

Ruckman, who joined BCSO in 2022, was in a prior shooting in 2023 that left a man injured. An internal investigation into the shooting and whether any policies were violated is ongoing, BCSO Chief Deputy Nicholas Huffmyer said.

Padilla’s family could not be reached Wednesday.

In an online obituary, Padilla’s family wrote, “His absence leaves a void too powerful to comprehend, but how we shall laugh at the trouble of parting, when we meet again.”

Padilla was “rambunctious and adventurous” with a variety of interests, including sports, cooking and reading, according to the obituary. As an adult, Padilla “had every gift but the length of years.”

The case had similarities to a 2023 BCSO shooting, in which a father called deputies to help his son, also known to BCSO, during a mental health crisis. The deputies who showed up killed the son as he walked toward them, holding a knife to his own neck and telling them to shoot.

When asked about the way Padilla’s shooting unfolded, Sheriff John Allen spoke generally and said, “these are always difficult decisions.” He said, in talks with the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, BCSO has identified “probably 200 people that are following the same path” as Padilla.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to (stop) this from happening again, not saying that we will prevent everything,” Allen said, before turning the focus on Ruckman. “... To our deputy, how does he feel knowing that he is there in a very dangerous situation and trying to save a life, not only his own, but somebody else’s?”

“And unfortunately, I’m going to tell you — this is going to happen again,” he said. “How can we do better? And how do we prevent it from happening in the first place? That goes from family, that goes from law enforcement, that goes from behavioral health clinicians, that’s from A to Z, we have to run the whole gamut and see and go through with a fine-tooth comb on what we can do better.”

‘Don’t shoot him’

Huffmyer said, in November, the agency was called by Padilla’s father to help his son, who was hallucinating, and took him to Presbyterian. He said the Behavioral Health Unit checked in on Padilla and his family over the next few months to offer services. He said the family declined assistance.

On March 4, Padilla called 911 and “made claims of seeing people with invisibility suits that were in his home,” Huffmyer said. Deputies took Padilla to the pharmacy to refill his medication, and Huffmyer called it a “successful interaction.”

Less than 48 hours later, Padilla’s father called 911 around 3:45 a.m. and told dispatch Padilla “was having an episode” and destroying things inside the family’s home in the 500 block of Live Oak NE, near Paseo del Norte and Tramway, Huffmyer said. In a 20-minute-long call, Padilla’s father told dispatch his son was armed with various items: a table leg, knife and scissors.

Lapel video showed Ruckman arrived just after 4 a.m. and got out of the vehicle and drew his gun, telling Padilla, “Show me your hands. Do not get any closer to me, I’m going to shoot you.”

Padilla raised his arms in the air, a large knife in his right hand, as he slowly walked toward the deputy, according to the lapel video. His father stood in a driveway as Padilla continued to approach the deputy, who said, “I will shoot you.”

Padilla’s father told his son to put the knives down but didn’t finish the sentence before Ruckman fired four shots. The father yelled “goddammit” and some inaudible words when Ruckman yelled, “Get back in your house” to the father, who told him to call an ambulance.

Ruckman pointed his gun at Padilla and said, “Drop the knife,” as the father yelled, “Brian put the knife down, don’t shoot him.” It would be seven minutes until the ambulance arrived.