Albuquerque police investigating second in-custody death in three days

Nov. 16—Albuquerque police say a tactical robot was used to determine that a man shot and killed himself Saturday morning after an overnight standoff with the SWAT team.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said officers used flashbangs, chemical gases and other means to try to get the man to surrender before finding his body. Police did not release his name.

The incident was the second in-custody death involving APD officers in three days.

On Thursday, a man died in the intake area of the Bernalillo County jail after officers brought him there to be booked. Gallegos said an autopsy found the 55-year-old died of a medical episode, possibly a stroke.

The deaths of both men are being investigated by the Multi-Agency Task Force.

The 30-year-old who killed himself Saturday had been sought by police for more than a week.

On Nov. 5, the man allegedly attacked a woman at a home in the 6000 block of Cathy NE, east of San Mateo and Academy, Gallegos said. The woman fled the home with her child “due to threats made by the subject.”

“The subject was described as suicidal and homicidal, with access to firearms,” he said.

Gallegos said officers went to the home late Friday to arrest the man and the homeowner gave them permission to to go inside. The man then “threatened to harm himself and officers with a gun.”

Police backed out of the home “and attempted to de-escalate the situation” before the SWAT team was called in to assist, he said.

Gallegos said shortly after 5 a.m. on Saturday the SWAT team used “noise flash diversionary devices; a 40 mm launcher, chemical agents and an explosive charge but no movement was detected” inside the home.

“A bomb robot was used to locate the subject with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” he said. “Rescue personnel confirmed his death.”

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