New Mexicans mourn loss of Bloomfield officer Timothy Ontiveros

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexicans are mourning for an officer lost in the line of duty. Bloomfield police say a man shot Officer Timothy Ontiveros multiple times during a traffic stop on Memorial Day.

After a weeklong fight, Ontiveros lost that battle Sunday. Ontiveros had been with the Bloomfield Police Department for six months.

In that short time, BPD Chief Phillip Francisco says he knew Ontiveros as a kind, funny, and respectable person, both inside and outside of work.

“It’s a tragic loss. We’re all trying to grieve and get through this together, not only in the community and his family but our family here in law enforcement. They’re like brother to us, sometimes even closer to family, because they work, they take care of each other, they protect each other on the street, they eat with each other. So they’re very close, almost like a family. So the loss that they are feeling, as far as officers here, is going to take an immense time to heal,” said Francisco.

Outside Bloomfield Police Department, the flag flew at half-staff, and people left flowers on a police unit that the chief says Ontiveros loved because he was a car guy.

The mayor of Bloomfield says it is those memories that will make sure Ontiveros is never forgotten.

“This doesn’t happen in our small town and so it is definitely something we will not forget, and we don’t want people to forget. We want them to remember that Officer Ontiveros he served our community, he served it well,” said Mayor Cynthia Atencio.

On Sunday night, law enforcement from across the state escorted Ontiveros body from the hospital to the Office of Medical Investigator, where doctors will conduct an autopsy.

We’re expecting police from Bloomfield and beyond to take Ontiveros’ body back to the Four Corners Tuesday at 10 a.m. They’ll head up I-25 to 550 through Bernalillo and on to Bloomfield.