Chandler Todd Barr was brutally shot in the chest by police in downtown Albuquerque, N.M. on the morning of Sept. 14.
On the day of the incident, Barr had been seeking transportation back home to Oklahoma after being recently released from a mental health facility in Albuquerque. .
Barr was heading back home from the downtown transportation center when Albuquerque police approached him and precipitously reacted to the 6-inch blunt-point knife he was holding.
The cops’ brutal response turned a suicide call into the 11th police shooting in Albuquerque for 2010, a record high for civilian shootings in that city, which have caused seven fatalities.
Police brutally shot Barr twice in the chest as he was bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. He was clearly in need of verbal de-escalation, but instead was harmed by police and remains in critical condition.
A swift response from the Albuquerque ANSWER coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism condemned the shooting:
“Random use of brutal and oppressive force by the APD has become the standard. There is a sharp increase in the use of excessive force by police throughout Albuquerque that includes random stops of pedestrians and motorists without cause or justification, racial profiling, rude, bullying and often violent behavior by officers, frequent hostile check-points, and other forms of harassment of civilians in flagrant violation of their rights.”
At the Albuquerque City Council meeting on Sept. 20, concerned youth spoke out against the latest shooting and the deadly methods employed by the police department.
Community members noted that the weeks the department spends on training police in what are ostensibly “de-escalation techniques” are too short a time period for police to adequately diffuse a situation.
Andres Valdez addressed the council and members of the community saying that officers didn’t have proper training when they approached Barr.
Also pointed out was the preemptive police tactic in treating people with low income as suspects instead of victims. Youth in attendance and members of the ANSWER Coalition gave their stories of police harassment, and being pursued on fallacious grounds.
“The police department is focused on lethal force, and a total disregard for non-lethal training,” Joel Gallegos said.
A member of the community whose family had been victimized by police told ANSWER that when his brother was shot by cops they did not realize he saw the incident.
Wrongdoing by the police department became clear after they made false statements about the attack and moved the victim’s vehicle before investigating. The victim’s family also found out that the same officer who shot his brother had verbally harassed him previously.
