Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart provided information about the fatal officer-involved shooting that happened Tuesday in Tortugas.
Sheriff Stewart explained that at around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Doña Ana County Sheriff's deputies, fire crews and Mesilla Marshalls were sent to a fire at 680 Watson Ln. As Firefighters arrived, they were informed that a man identified as Dylan Leonard might be inside.
Leonard was advised by firefighters to get out of his still burning home, but he refused, according to Stewart, who said when deputies arrived, they tried to talk to Leonard through the door to get him to exit, but again he refused several times.
“The property was still burning, so we had to make some decision to move this individual out of the residence. As you might imagine, public safety required this, and exigence circumstance demanded it,” Stewart said.
At 8:34 p.m. Leonard suddenly exited the property with a knife in his right hand, moving towards the deputies. A Doña Ana County Deputy and Mesilla Marshall both fired; it was not specified who struck Leonard.
He was pronounced dead on scene.
One of the deputies suffered minor injuries; he was sent to the hospital and was able to leave later that night.
“Of course, immediately as is procedure, we activated the officer-involved shooting task force as well as our own criminal investigation. As you know those are parallel investigations that start side by side from the very beginning,” Stewart said.
The as yet unidentified deputies involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave while the Officer-Involved Shooting Task Force investigates.
