New Mexico State Police: Officer wounded in shooting near Edgewood

 Feb. 12—A New Mexico State Police officer is in stable condition after he was wounded by gunshot Friday morning near Sedillo Hill, an area between Edgewood and Tijeras, the agency said.

The officer was responding to a report of a suspicious woman at a gas station in Edgewood, state police said in a news release. When he tried to speak with a man and a woman in a Cadillac, the man drove the vehicle in reverse, ramming the officer's patrol car, then sped away, the release said.

Following a high-speed chase, the officer performed a maneuver to stop the fleeing Cadillac, causing it to crash into a guardrail.

The officer and the driver exchanged gunfire, and the officer was struck, the release said. The couple ran away from the scene.

New Mexico State Police Chief Tim Johnson said in a news conference Friday afternoon a man and woman who fit the description of the suspects had been picked up for questioning along Central Avenue in Albuquerque and were awaiting interviews.

Johnson opened the news conference with a blunt statement: "Here we are again."

Friday's shooting occurred almost a year after the death of New Mexico State Police Officer Darian Jarrott, who was shot Feb. 4, 2021, by Omar Cueva after initiating a traffic stop along Interstate 10.

"I feel like we are here more often than we should be," Johnson said. "If you sense the disgust or frustration in my voice, you would be correct."

He did not identify the wounded officer, a supervisor with the agency, but said it appeared he was going to be OK.

The officer was treated at a hospital in Albuquerque, state police said in a Twitter post.

Johnson said the officer had responded to a call for service from a clerk at a Mr. Gas Mart at the intersection of N.M. 333 and N.M. 334 in Edgewood around 8:15 a.m.

The clerk said a woman was locked in the gas station's bathroom, likely doing drugs or other "criminal activity," Johnson said.

The officer encountered the woman in a silver Cadillac parked in front of the store. He parked behind the Cadillac and walked over to it, the chief said, prompting the man driving the car to ram the patrol vehicle and then flee west onto N.M. 333, which runs parallel to Interstate 40.

The Cadillac crashed on the Sedillo Hill overpass.

Johnson said it was unclear who fired the first shot or if either of the suspects were wounded by a gunshot before they ran.

State police have described the suspects as a "heavy set" man between 5-foot-2 and 5-foot-4, wearing a black hoodie and blue pants, and a thin woman, about 5-foot-7, wearing a tan shirt with black leggings.

The investigation at the shooting scene remains active, Johnson said, though two people have been detained for questioning.

Various agencies were called in to assist state police, including authorities from Bernalillo County, Albuquerque, Edgewood and Santa Fe County, and were still at the scene Friday evening.

"Every agency around the metro area is out there," Johnson said. "... If there is any silver lining, it's how quickly the law enforcement community rallies together and works together to get these folks in custody."

During a House floor session Friday at the Roundhouse, Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, asked her colleagues to keep the officer in their prayers as police work to "find the despicable person that did this."

Sen. Gregg Schmedes, R-Tijeras, said he was taking his wife to breakfast for her birthday Friday morning when he saw police cars rushing to a scene.

"About two minutes after we left my house, a sheriff's deputy with sirens on came blasting by," he said. "I thought, 'It went pretty fast.' And then another state police car, and then what I figured to be a federal police car, and that's when I knew something really bad was going on."

At Schmedes' request, senators stood for a moment of silence for the injured officer.

Anyone with information is asked to dial 911 or call state police at 505-841-9256.


Source: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-state-police-officer-wounded-053400090.html

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