Albuquerque Police Department: Cop Shoots Fellow Cop During Undercover Drug Bust

The Albuquerque Police Department had a good streak going, as they were at five months with a single shooting, but that has now ended. An Albuquerque police officer is in critical condition after being shot by a fellow officer during an undercover drug bust on Friday afternoon.

According to the Free Thought Project, the unnamed officer was shot while undercover in a drug sting that was in place to bust two men. The men were attempting to get $60 worth of meth.

Another officer sustained minor injuries in the incident, but there have not been details released as to how he was hurt.

“Both officers involved were working in plain clothes and in an undercover capacity and both officers have been with the department for many years.”

While names of the two officers involved were not released, their names have been revealed in other ways. The Albuquerque Journal reported that criminal complaints filed in the Metropolitan Court state the officers as Jacob Grant and Holly Garcia.

Garcia and Grant of the Albuquerque Police Department were undercover and were meeting with a suspect to buy $60 of meth, aka “shards.”

Once meeting up with the suspect, they all got into Garcia’s car and she drove the Lexus to a nearby Econo Lodge motel. At that point, the suspect went to a room and returned to the car with the meth.

Garcia went into a nearby McDonald’s to give officers the signal to begin the bust of the suspect. Other officers from the Albuquerque Police Department were in pickup trucks.

It was shortly after that the shooting took place as one of those other officers moved in and began firing his weapon. During the shooting, a bullet hit one of the officers in the Lexus, but it was not known if the suspects used a gun.

“We don’t know how many shots were fired or where the officer was hit.”

Witness Wallace Anderson was inside the McDonald’s with about 20 other people when the shooting happened. He said they couldn’t see the shooting since it was on the other side, but they could hear the gunfire.

“We just saw unmarked vehicles pull up these ram trucks or whatever and surrounded this vehicle so it couldn’t back up and escape and then at that point the shots happened and the guy was dragged to the pavement and handcuffed.”

An investigation is now ongoing by the Albuquerque Police Department as to why the officer fired in the first place. The officer in critical condition is in the hospital, and the chief has asked for “prayers” for the their recovery.

[Image via Nicole Perez — Albuquerque Journal]