For a few brief minutes Monday evening Nob Hill patrons and shopkeepers were reminded how suddenly violence can strike a community as gunfire shattered the quiet night, leaving a shooting suspect dead and an APD sergeant battling for her life.
The investigation into the shooting incident is still ongoing and is being conducted by a multi-agency task force representing the Albuquerque Police Department, New Mexico State Police and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators are analyzing critical pieces of forensic evidence to help tell them exactly what happened, and even more importantly, why it happened.
What police know is that 35-year-old Duc Mihn Pham of Albuquerque shot APD Sgt. Carol Oleksek in the head and shoulder with her service weapon after a brief scuffle in the parking lot of Walgreens drug store near Central Avenue and Girard Boulevard at about 7:45 p.m.
Oleksek was still in critical condition Wednesday following emergency surgery Monday night at University Hospital, APD Det. Jeff Arbogast said.
Minutes later, as Pham traveled east on foot further into Nob Hill, he was followed by APD officers who had to take cover as he sporadically fired bullets.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
APD officer Lee Speer approached Pham from the west with the intention of clearing a crowded Kelly's Brew Pub patio but the two arrived at almost the same time. Patrons of the restaurant scattered and fled inside as several shots rang out.
By then, only three or four minutes after it all started, the altercation was over as Speer shot Pham dead just short of Kelly's patio.
"He (Pham) chose his own destiny," Arbogast said.
Speer has been placed on three-day administrative leave, normal APD procedure in any officer-involved shooting, Arbogast said.
The shooting lasted only minutes but left a crime scene stretching from Girard to Wellesley Drive that had to be divided into primary and secondary scenes.
Arobogast said forensic investigators combed the scene for evidence well into the following morning and that APD officers and members of the sheriff's office took statements from between 80 and 100 witnesses.
Michele Arviso Devlin, spokeswoman for the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office said seven detectives and two sergeants helped APD secure each scene and take witness statements. Two detectives from the sheriff's office have been assigned to the multi-agency task force investigating the shooting.
Some Kelly's patrons remained inside the restaurant for three and a half hours waiting to give police statements.
At the scene, officers were obviously troubled with the knowledge that one of their own had been seriously wounded.
"We are remaining cautiously optimistic for her recovery," Arbogast said. "Anytime an officer is injured in our jurisdiction or in any other, we feel very badly."
He added that the outpouring of support for Oleksek and her family from the community has been coming in the form of donations, flowers and phone calls.
