The Las Cruces Police Department held a news conference Tuesday morning to provide more information on the fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred on February 8th on Valley Drive.
Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story went over video footage and other information about the shooting.
According to Story, at about 7:14 am, 28-year-old and "self-affiliated gang member" Johnny Ray Morales walked into the Walmart on Valley Drive and stole a bike.
From there, an officer who was working off-duty patrol, was notified of the theft and attempted to speak to Morales at the end of the parking lot behind a building.
Off-duty patrol is a system where an officer is working in uniform but being paid by an outside private entity.
“The reason the department does this, and many departments do it, is because it allows us to free up patrol officers so you have this officer in uniform being paid by not taxpayers responding to shoplifting and other incidents at Walmart that a patrol officer would have to respond to if they were not there,” Story said.
Before the officer could talk to the suspect, Story said Morales fired two shots at the officer before running away and eventually hiding behind a dumpster located behind the Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
As more officers arrived, Morales allegedly fired more shots at the police before running into a dirt field where he was shot and killed by police.
In total, five officers fired their weapons; each firing less than ten shots.
“The goal of course is to prevent the loss of life but we also have to keep the community safe and ourselves safe. It is a constant balancing act based on all of the factors,” Story said.
Police say that Morales had an extensive criminal history including child abuse, domestic violence, felony possession of a firearm and more.
The shooting is still under investigation by the Officer-Involved Incident Task Force. The task force is a fact finding body only and the evidence will be presented to a court once completed.
