More than 60 people braved the rain Saturday to speak out against allegedly brutal police practices that have led to an abnormally high number of police shootings in Albuquerque.
Albuquerque police officers have gunned down one person a month for 20 months — 14 of those shootings have been fatal.
APD has defended the shootings in the past, but neither they nor Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry’s office were available for comments as of Sunday afternoon.
“My son, Alan Gomez, was a union construction worker, a homeowner, he practiced mixed martial arts and was shot in the back by Albuquerque police officers,” Mike Gomez told activists at the protests and speak-in at Albuquerque’s Main Library. “I’m here to speak out against the complete corruption in the Albuquerque Police Department. I’m no politician, just a guy whose son was killed.”
According to news reports and information provided by the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Center Task Force on Social Justice for Public Safety, Alan Gomez was killed by APD Officer Sean Wallace on May 10 while walking into his brother’s home. He was carrying a plastic spoon.
According to news reports, Gomez had taken his brother and his brother’s girlfriend hostage. A subsequent search of the home turned up a .22 caliber rifle. According to news reports, Gomez is Wallace’s third shooting and second fatality in four years.
Wallace has also been accused of milking the state of thousands of dollars while working for the state police.
“This isn’t just about a call for justice for the 14 people killed by APD,” said Joel Gallegos, coordinator of the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition of New Mexico. “This is about demanding justice for everyone. We are fighting against a system that shoots people, Tasers people and verbally abuses them. We are here to demand our rights for justice.”
Gallegos and Gomez were joined by Rey Garduño, the district six city councilor, who said he plans to propose a new resolution at a City Council meeting tonight asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the 20 shootings and the culture and practices of APD.
According to news reports, Mayor Berry vetoed a City Council resolution last month asking for a Department Of Justice investigation; the City Council failed to override the veto at the Sept. 7 council meeting.
“Last month the mayor vetoed the resolution passed by the City Council,” Garduño told the crowd on Saturday. “This is cowardice.”
Garduño said in an interview that an external investigation is vital in order to bring systemic issues to light.
“The community needs to feel they have been listened to and respected,” he said. “The confidence of the community has been lost. No one is saying we have a rotten police department, but rotten procedures and the actions of a few have tainted the department, and we need to bring this whole thing out into the air and remove the taint from the Albuquerque Police Department.”
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