Investigation details case against officer fired for shooting at rock-throwing man

An Albuquerque police officer told investigators he got “tunnel vision” — described as akin to “a dog chasing a ball” — when he repeatedly fired at a fleeing burglary suspect last year near Candelaria and Carlisle.

Officer Quan La was fired in February following an investigation into the Sept. 21 shooting of 48-year-old Gabriel Garcia.

Garcia had thrown two landscaping rocks at La from 70 feet away before the officer fired at him 10 times, nine of the shots as Garcia ran away.

“Officer La reported having tunnel vision, being a dog chasing a ball and used force when it was no longer reasonable,” according to documents released to the Journal as part of an Inspection of Public Records Act request.

This article is based upon those documents.

La’s attorney in the case, Fred Mowrer, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Albuquerque Police Department’s Internal Affairs Force Division determined the first shot fired by La — when Garcia threw the rock — complied with policy as he posed “an immediate threat” to the officer.

But IAFD found that the subsequent nine shots were not reasonable and violated use-of-force policy. Additionally, investigators found that La violated two policies related to de-escalation — not using distance, cover and time and taking “unnecessary actions” that led to the use of force.

“Officer La needlessly put himself in danger by removing himself from cover and concealment and closing distance on (Garcia),” according to the investigator’s report. “... The evidence in this case proves that the immediate threat to La vanished once the first shot was fired.”

La told IAFD investigators that he was focused on his rear gun sights and “kept firing because he believed he needed to stop” Garcia and didn’t realize he was fleeing.

Garcia was treated at a hospital and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on charges that included aggravated assault on a peace officer and possession of burglary tools.

Another officer who responded to the call, Christian Small, was given a written reprimand after IAFD determined he violated policy by not having his lapel camera recording after he detained Garcia.

The Independent Monitoring Team overseeing the APD’s federally mandated reform efforts disagreed with IAFD, believing the first shot fired by La was also out of policy.

“Officer (La) failed to use cover, time and distance to his favor, as it was feasible and a reasonable expectation here,” according to the monitor’s most recent report. “Also, in this set of circumstances, it was unconvincing that the first discharge of the firearm at (Garcia) was a reasonable response, considering the threat he posed to the officer.”

In his seven years with APD, La had five sustained policy violations, involving Taser use, lapel camera recording, prisoner restraint and a civilian complaint. His punishments in those cases included counseling, verbal reprimands, training and an eight-hour suspension.

La, who had not been involved in a prior shooting, was the third officer fired after shooting at someone in 2022. In the previous three years only one officer had been fired related to a shooting, according to data provided by Albuquerque police.

The encounter between La and Garcia began around 2:30 a.m. when police responded to gunfire in the area.

An APD lieutenant spotted Garcia trying to get into one of the windows of a gas station. Garcia told police he was only urinating and there was “nothing to see here.”

Garcia ran “toward a dark alley” and La and other officers gave chase before losing sight of him. La ran back to his vehicle and his lapel camera fell off briefly but he reattached it.

La drove around and found Garcia, honking his horn to alert other officers in the area but not calling it in to dispatch. Garcia threw a baseball-sized rock at La and he took cover behind his driver’s side door.

La left cover and ran toward Garcia, who then threw a second rock. La fired at Garcia 10 times, even as he ran away, and struck him in the bicep.

The bullets that did not strike Garcia pierced a tree, a daycare and an assisted living home in the area. Officer Small found Garcia and detained him sometime later.

In a discipline hearing with Eric Garcia, executive director of APD police reform, La said “he assumed” Gabriel Garcia had a gun on him.

La said he was “in fear that he would be killed or injured” when Gabriel Garcia threw the rocks at him. La said “he had tunnel vision and continued to pull the trigger of his firearm until the threat was no longer there.”

La said he had served in the military as a combat soldier but had never been in a gunfight.

Mowrer, La’s attorney, said in the hearing that La “had a right to utilize suppressive handgun fire to force (Gabriel Garcia) to stop throwing rocks at him.” Mowrer used a previous police shooting as an example. In that case, the suspect shot a gun at the officer before the officer returned fire.

La said he was able to sidestep the rocks Gabriel Garcia was throwing and he stepped away from the safety of his vehicle before opening fire.

“Officer La fired his handgun methodically, not as a short burst of fire,” Eric Garcia wrote in his discipline report. “Officer La failed to reduce his level of force after the male was no longer a threat to him.”

Eric Garcia decided on a written reprimand and dismissal from the department as La’s punishment.

Gabriel Garcia has since filed a lawsuit alleging that La, and the City of Albuquerque, violated his constitutional and civil rights.

In the criminal case against him, prosecutors offered Garcia a plea deal — dismissing all of the charges except resisting, evading or obstructing — and he was sentenced to a year’s probation, according to court records. Garcia violated the terms within a month, approaching a patrol officer and saying “he wanted his probation revoked and to go back to jail.”

The officer reported that Garcia “seemed hopeless and that he didn’t appear to be doing well.” Garcia’s family told the probation officer they didn’t know his whereabouts.

At some point, according to court records, he also tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl.

“Garcia has shown that he is going to continue abusing drugs and that he is not willing to comply,” with the conditions of his probation, a probation officer wrote in a violation report.

He was arrested for those violations on June 5.