Key Takeaways
- In southeast Albuquerque on Sept. 17, two men attacked a third man with a knife and a pole.
- A fourth man intervened and shot one of the attackers, who died from the gunshot wound.
- The stabbing victim fled on a motorcycle, crashed nearby, and was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
- Albuquerque police are investigating the shooting as a possible justifiable homicide, and no charges have been filed.
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
ALBUQUERQUE, NM — A man who stepped in to help someone being attacked with a knife and a pole on the morning of Sept. 17 shot and killed one of the attackers, and Albuquerque police are now investigating the shooting as a possible justifiable homicide.
The attack happened in the area of Decatur Avenue and Tennessee Street in southeast Albuquerque, as reported by KOB 4. A preliminary investigation found two men were attacking a third man with a knife and a pole. A fourth man stepped in to help the victim. He shot one of the alleged attackers. That man died.
The stabbing victim drove away on a motorcycle and crashed nearby. First responders took him to the hospital in stable condition to treat his stab wounds. Police also investigated a crash with injuries in the area of Utah Street and Central Avenue that they believed was connected.
Police have not identified anyone involved. Detectives are still investigating, and no charges have been filed.
Stepping into someone else’s fight is the hardest call an armed citizen can make. You arrive mid-fight with no backstory, you do not know who started it, and you own every round you fire. That is a mindset problem before it is ever a gear problem, and it is why I tell people to think through third-party intervention long before they are standing on a street corner watching it happen.
What police describe here cuts most of that doubt down. Two men on one. A knife and a pole. A victim who was already being stabbed. The law lets you defend another person to the same extent that person could defend himself, and a man being carved up by two attackers armed with a blade and a club is facing an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm by any reasonable reading. The fourth man did not have to guess at that. He could see it.
More from USA Carry:
That said, what police have said is that they are investigating this as a possible justifiable homicide. That is their preliminary characterization, not a ruling. Prosecutors make the final call, and that call has not been made. Until it is, the man who intervened is someone police are looking at, not someone who has been cleared.
One man is dead, one is in the hospital with stab wounds, and the man who pulled the trigger is waiting on detectives to finish their work.
