The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — An Albuquerque man who was fatally shot by Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies after he led them on an automobile chase east of Albuquerque had been involved in a domestic violence incident hours before his death, authorities said.
Sheriff Darren White said Lawrence Anthony Trujillo, 45, was stopped Sunday evening for erratic driving. As the deputy approached the car, she noticed that the man appeared to have blood on him, and she called for backup.
Trujillo then drove off, and deputies pursued him for a short distance until his car’s tires were punctured by a spike belt, White said.
The sheriff’s office said Trujillo approached deputies in a threatening manner before shots were fired. Trujillo was shot three times by deputy Elder Guevara.
Guevara and five other deputies were placed on standard three days’ leave following the shooting.
According to police reports, Albuquerque officers were called to the home of Trujillo’s wife earlier that night after neighbors heard her screaming for help. Lori Howard-Trujillo told police that Trujillo had choked her and slammed her head on the floor after becoming angry with her over finances.
“He totally lost it,” she said in a victim’s statement. “He started choking me. I tried to stop him. He wouldn’t stop.”
Court records show Trujillo had been charged with domestic violence twice in 2005 and once in 2006. He was also charged in 2006 with felony drug possession