The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - An Albuquerque police officer fatally shot a man he had pulled over for a traffic stop Thursday after the man pointed a gun at him, police spokesman Jeff Arbogast said.
The name of the officer was not immediately released, but Arbogast said he is a veteran.
Police were still trying to identify the man who was killed, he said.
The officer stopped the car about 1 p.m., and the man pulled into the driveway of a residence and stayed in the car.
When the officer approached, the man raised a handgun, “forcing the officer in a position to take deadly force,” Arbogast said.
The man was dead at the scene, he said.
“Traffic stops are one of the most hazardous duties any police officer in the nation will ever conduct because when we observe a violation, we don’t know the state of mind of the driver, we don’t know if that driver has committed a crime or was going to commit a crime, we don’t know anything about that driver or (other) people in the vehicle,” Arbogast said.
The officer was placed on three days’ paid leave, which is standard procedure in shootings, Arbogast said.
The shooting is being investigated by detectives from the state police and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department as well as the Albuquerque Police Department.
Arbogast said investigators were expected to work “into the very late night hours.”