Preliminary reports detail shooting of Kirtland airman as told by his pursuers

U.S. Air Force Airman Brion Teel-Scott was cornered — taking cover behind a car in a driveway across Gibson from Kirtland Air Force Base. Several military police, members of his squadron, told him to surrender with weapons drawn.

One of the airmen later said Teel-Scott told his pursuers to call Albuquerque police, as "they did not have any jurisdiction" after chasing him off base in vehicles and on foot. Teel-Scott asked them to call police "about seven times" and told them that if the group backed up, "he would show his hands and be compliant."

The airman said he never saw a gun in Teel-Scott's hand but heard "a click" akin to a gun misfiring before the group opened fire. Teel-Scott fell to the ground and a sergeant, in a separate interview, said he kicked the gun away before Teel-Scott started moving.

"Then shots were fired again," the sergeant told Albuquerque officers who responded to the Feb. 22 shooting. When the smoke cleared, Teel-Scott had been shot at least 16 times, according to an autopsy, with three bullets hitting him in the back.

A sergeant had been shot in the hand during the encounter.

Teel-Scott, 28, was pronounced dead across from KAFB's Truman Gate, where he had fled from after military police found cannabis in his car. As a member of the 377th Security Forces Squadron, Teel-Scott had been tasked with protecting the gate alongside those who chased and shot him.

The bullets fired by his colleagues also tore into a man's apartment and hit a gas line in the area, according to preliminary Albuquerque Police Department reports, leading to an entire apartment complex being evacuated.

To avoid the possible gas leak, an officer moved Teel-Scott's body from where he was cornered to the street, between the complex and a Taco Bell restaurant in Southeast Albuquerque.

Before the base's Office of Special Investigations could take over the investigation from APD, detectives detained and interviewed several airmen involved in the shooting. APD reports obtained by the Journal show some airmen told police they were certain Teel-Scott fired at them and fired first even, while others said they only heard "a click."

In response to repeated inquiries, KAFB has refused to release certain details since the incident, including how many airmen fired and how many bullets each. Officials have said Teel-Scott had a gun in his possession but have refused to say if he fired it.

Evidence photos obtained by the Journal showed numerous evidence markers beside spent brass casings where the group of airmen reportedly fired from. The photos also showed at least two nickel-plated brass casings near where Teel-Scott had been hiding.

Bullet holes pockmarked the vehicle Teel-Scott was hiding behind, as well as the wall, an apartment front door and a nearby gas meter.

In a previous news release from March, the base said all airmen who fired in the incident "have been assigned to administrative work details until the completion of the investigation."

Philadelphia attorney Joseph Marrone, who is representing Teel-Scott's family, said the actions of the military police in this incident "were egregious."

"When he was cornered and he wanted to surrender and he pled for basically help and he wanted to be surrendered to the Albuquerque Police Department, they decided to randomly shoot him," he said, adding that there was "no justification" for shooting Teel-Scott.

"I think these officers should be court-martialed," Marrone said.

At the time of the shooting, Teel-Scott had asked to be discharged under "other than honorable" conditions over a court-martial on domestic dispute charges. He was supposed to fly home to Bordentown, New Jersey, on Feb. 24.

APD responded to the shooting around 1:45 a.m. and detained several military police as an APD officer moved Teel-Scott's body away from the "hissing" of a ruptured gas line, according to the reports. A KAFB sergeant was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the hand.

The airmen told APD that Teel-Scott had driven up to the Truman Gate in a vehicle that had an expired registration. The airmen said Teel-Scott became "hostile and uncooperative" and wanted to leave.

The reports state that the airmen told APD they searched Teel-Scott's car as it was set to be towed, finding a bag of cannabis under the spare tire. A KAFB military police lieutenant told detectives that "they have had past incidents with Brion, and he is known to get in trouble with (Military Police)."

Once the cannabis was found, the lieutenant said they moved to detain Teel-Scott and he fled on foot as they yelled for him to "stop and show his hands," according to the reports. The lieutenant said the group chased Teel-Scott on foot and in SUVs, with one SUV able to cut him off.

APD said the lieutenant told them he and three airmen were on one side of a vehicle asking for Teel-Scott, who was on the other side, to surrender for up to five minutes.

"Brion yelled to them that they did not have any jurisdiction and to call APD and requested APD about seven times," according to the reports. The lieutenant said Teel-Scott told him if they backed up, he would comply.

APD said the lieutenant told them he began to back up when he heard a "click" that sounded like "a firearm was attempted to be discharged but malfunctioned. He said he saw no gun in Teel-Scott's hand, but "he then hears shots being fired and states he returns fire as well."

The interview with the lieutenant ended abruptly as the detective was called away, according to the reports. A sergeant told police after the initial shooting that he walked up to Teel-Scott and "kicked the gun that Brion had away with his boot."

The sergeant told police after he kicked the gun away, Teel-Scott "started to move ... and then shots were fired again." After the second round of gunfire, the sergeant realized he had been shot in the hand.

For another military police member, there was no ambiguity whether Teel-Scott shot at them. The airwoman said that, as the group asked Teel-Scott to show his hands and not reach for anything, he "kept repeating that he couldn't do that."

She told APD that Teel-Scott fired at them first and she could see the "flashes from the muzzle." The airwoman told APD Teel-Scott fired 10 bullets at them before they returned fire.

She told APD, "They shot back until there was no more threat to their lives."