Alex De Vore
Police gather in downtown Santa Fe following a shooting during Fiesta de Santa Fé.
A suspect is in custody and all Fiesta de Santa Fé-related events on the Santa Fe Plaza are canceled following an officer-involved shooting this morning.
Officers “are OK” after the incident that occurred at approximately 10:30 am near Washington and Marcy streets, according to a news release from the Santa Fe Police Department. Yet law enforcement officials can’t share any more details at the moment, Deputy Chief Ben Valdez tells SFR.
“We’re in the middle of the investigation, it’s active,” Valdez says, noting New Mexico State Police will handle the investigation of the officer-involved shooting while officers from SFPD investigate the circumstances leading up to the incident.
The timeline for more information remains unclear.
“It depends on the pace of the investigation. It could be a couple hours, or it could be a day or so,” Valdez says, “but as soon as we have more information, we’ll put that out.”
The shooting marks the latest in a string of gun violence incidents around Santa Fe this year. Just last month, a man shot and killed an 83-year-old man in the Best Buy parking lot off Zafarano Drive during a robbery. In July, a man shot a worker in the head at the Sonic fast food restaurant near Siler Road. In June, SFPD responded to a 37-year-old Santa Fe resident who was shot in a parking lot near the intersection of Cerrillos and Harrison roads. Prior to that, police shot a knife-wielding man at Pete’s Place in April.
Mayor Alan Webber tells SFR he’s “relieved that everybody is safe except the bad guy” in today’s Plaza incident.
“I’m thankful that the police responded so swiftly and effectively,” Webber says. “I’m also grateful to the Fiesta Council for making the hard decision to cancel the rest of the events today, because we all wanted to see Fiestas come to a joyous conclusion, but they put public safety first, and that’s always the right decision.”
Webber says “it’s dangerous to speculate” the circumstances leading up to the incident that appeared “to be a situation that involved a stolen vehicle” that an individual was using “to crash into other vehicles.”
In response to the continued outcry for more public safety measures, Webber says the City of Santa Fe is “looking at all the tools at our disposal,” including security guards in high-crime areas, “common-sense gun safety” laws, and advocating for more mental and behavioral health services.
“We are doing all that we can to be responsive to the community and the community’s ideas and participation in community dialog toward enhanced safety. Anytime one individual ruins the entire community’s fun, you feel like a punch in the gut,” Webber says. “The fact is, everybody in our community who was here to participate is going home safely, and the individual who’s responsible is not. That’s finally what’s the most important thing.”
Washington Street from Marcy Street to Palace Avenue and Palace Avenue from Washington Street to Paseo de Peralta are temporarily closed due to the incident. Law enforcement officials ask that the public avoid the area and expect traffic disruptions.
