Updated: Santa Fe Police Fatally Shoot Man Downtown

DA, city officials say dead man is suspected of shooting another person minutes before his own death; details are sparse as dual investigations begin

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Police ran after a man, then killed him not long after they say he had shot and wounded someone else in downtown Santa Fe around 11 am Wednesday.

Workers from a store near the shooting tell SFR they saw a man walking on East Alameda, turning onto Old Santa Fe Old Trail, then police chased after him warning others nearby to take shelter.

“I thought the police officer was yelling at somebody going the wrong way [on Old Santa Fe Trail] and then the guy walked past me and I ran inside,” one of the workers tells SFR, adding that the man was holding a gun in his hand. “I shoved everybody in the back and I locked the doors.”

The workers said the man was not pointing the gun at officers, who did have their weapons trained on him. They stopped watching and ducked into their storefront before police shot the man; the workers said they heard one gunshot.

Another witness tells SFR they heard two shots.

A news release from State Police, the agency investigating the shooting, issued just before 5 pm Wednesday asserts that the man ran “into a crowded tourist area” and, during the foot pursuit, “turned towards the SFPD officers and pointed the handgun at them,” prompting the officers to fire.

The man died at the scene, according to State Police.

This is the first time SFPD officers have shot someone in 2021. Local police shot one person in 2020; he survived. Officials could not say when the last fatal shooting by SFPD occurred.

The city issued a statement this afternoon indicating police had responded to a call about a fight at De Vargas Park just after 10 am.

“Dispatch further advised the responding officers that a gun was involved, that one person had been shot, and the suspect had fled the scene on foot,” city officials wrote. “Officers arrived to render aid to the victim, and to search the area for the suspect.”

Later, according to the city’s news release, “the armed suspect was located by officers searching the area. Officers engaged with and shot the suspect. The suspect is deceased.”

Police have not released the names of the dead person or the person who was shot in the park, though the city says the latter victim was transported to an area hospital in an undisclosed condition.

New Mexico State Police issued a statement on Twitter at 11:40 am saying that agency was investigating a shooting by Santa Fe Police. State Police will be the first to issue a report about whether officers appear to have acted appropriately.

Officer Dusty Francisco, a spokesman for State Police, declined to name the SFPD officer or officers who fired shots on Wednesday. He also would not name the victim, saying that identification would come after his next of kin is notified. Francisco did not know whether a gun was recovered at the scene.

“I’m waiting for some updated information, and we want to make sure everything we put out is accurate,” Francisco tells SFR around 2 pm Wednesday, adding that he didn’t have a firm timeline for an update. “These investigations take an extensive amount of time, and investigators are diligently working the crime scene.”

David Herndon, a spokesman for the City of Santa Fe, responded to emailed questions SFR sent to Deputy Police Chief Paul Joye, also declining to name the shooting officers.

“The names and other information requested on the officers won’t be released until all of them have been interviewed by [State Police] and they authorize releasing the info,” Herndon writes, adding that the officers have been placed on paid leave, which is authorized for up to 10 days.

Herndon would not say whether the officers had previously shot anyone in the line of duty at SFPD.

He confirms that Wednesday marked the first shooting by city officers in 2021. SFPD officers shot one person in 2020: When officer Brandon Deets fired at Joseph Galassini, a suspected shoplifter who had been violently detained by an employee and another man outside the Big R ranch and farm store on St. Michael’s Drive in a questionable incident last June.

Galassini was hospitalized with serious injuries, but survived the two gunshot wounds he suffered.

Herndon writes that an Internal Affairs investigation was launched immediately after the Wednesday shooting.

That inquiry will examine whether the shooting officers violated SFPD policy when they shot the man near Loretto Chapel Wednesday morning; the consequences of a violation could lead to discipline up to termination, but the city of Santa Fe does not disclose the results of internal investigations publicly.

The Internal Affairs investigation is separate from the State Police review, which is designed to determine whether the officers broke the law and should be prosecuted criminally.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, whose office would also typically review the State Police criminal investigation in a police shooting, issued a statement noting “the preliminary reports appear to show that the suspect had a gun and that officers were in danger.” The statement continued: “We always grieve the loss of any life, regardless of the circumstances.”

On Wednesday evening, the city issued a statement explaining police had arrested a woman in connection with the park shooting.

Kalin Addison, 20, “was found and identified as having fired at least one shot at the victim, before giving the gun to the other unnamed suspect, who also fired at least one shot at the victim before fleeing the scene on foot, still armed with the gun. The armed suspect that fled from the scene was soon after located by Santa Fe Police Officers” and is the person police killed, the statement said.

Addison is charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence.

SFR’s Julie Ann Grimm contributed to this story.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include comment from a State Police spokesman and details from the City of Santa Fe.