Saturday, November 29, 2008

Four LLPD officers honored for bravery after being shot at

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas Courageous police officers who arrested an armed robber in Los Lunas after being shot at are being hailed for their bravery.

Los Lunas Assistant Police Chief David Gurule described the bravery of the four as "fantastic" as the officers, Santiago Beyal, Heather Killingsworth, James Rich and Jonathan Norris, stood at attention while receiving their medals of commendation.

All four were praised for their actions for their work following an armed robbery at McDonald's on Oct. 3. Gurule said the awards ceremony to recognize its police officers is the first of its kind for the Los Lunas Police Department.

"There's a lot of different ways that this could have turned out," Gurule said. "But it was the supervision, their knowledge and experience that led to a fantastic result and apprehension of the suspect."

Gurule said the Los Lunas Police Department has been developing a merit award program for the last two months to recognize officers who perform excellent work and exhibit heroic courage, bravery and good deeds in the line of duty.

As Lt. Max Blea and Sgt. Thomas Taylor pinned the medals of commendation onto each officer's uniform, Gurule said that they are a credit to the police department and that they deserve praise for their outstanding acts.

"These acts are characterized by obvious self-sacrifice while facing personal danger," said Gurule, who described the officers' work as a team effort. "On Oct. 3, 2008, that's what these officers faced."

Village Councilor Gerard Saiz congratulated all four officers for their bravery and thanked them for their ongoing commitment to the village and its residents.

"I'm extremely proud of the four of you," Saiz said. "I'm also very proud and happy about the police department for initiating such a program to recognize the officers who are doing what they're doing.

"I just want to say that I'm also equally as proud of each and every one of the officers in the police department for showing up to work and protecting our community," he added. "Our entire police department should be given credit for what they do on a daily basis."

After the ceremony held in the council chambers, all four of the officers said they were very humbled by the honor and recognition for the work they did that night.

"I was very surprised to hear that we were going to be receiving this award," said Beyal, who has been with the department for about a year and a half. "For me personally, the recognition means a little more for catching the person who did this because he did fire at officers. This is just a nice surprise and end to the whole situation."

Norris, too, said he was very surprised about the award, but very honored to be a recipient. Norris, who has also been on the force for about a year and a half, said his training was the most influential component that night when faced with a dangerous situation.

"It was a pretty amazing experience," Norris said. "Training does help, and it's a life saver."

Killingsworth, a five-year veteran of the Los Lunas Police, said its great that the department is recognizing officers for their work.

"It's an honor to receive this — the first one," she said. "It makes a huge difference because it shows that they actually care what we do. For a long time, some officers didn't really know that anyone cares what we do. I look forward for other officers being able to experience getting an award like this, because it's great."

Rich, who was on the job for less than a month when the incident occurred, said the award and recognition means a great deal to him not only professionally but personally as well.

"In this line of work, you have to be prepared because things can change in a second," Rich said. "Having been new to the department, it just really does feel great. I think anytime an officer receives something like this, it just makes them feel better."

On the night of Oct. 3, Los Lunas police were dispatched to McDonalds in reference to an armed robbery. Killingsworth was the first to arrive on scene, and as she drove up, she saw a man take off running. He fired a round toward her in an upward direction.

The suspect continued running south across the street between Arbys and the bank building when Beyal pulled up to the scene. When Beyal arrived on scene, the man turned toward him and fired his gun.

Beyal got out of his patrol car and pursued the robber on foot across Los Lentes Road into the Bargain Square parking lot where Killingsworth caught up to him in her patrol vehicle. As she pursued the robber, he turned in her direction and fired another round toward her.

The bullet hit her car just behind her left shoulder. She said at this time, she struck the man with the front-end of her patrol car and he fell to the ground. He got up and continued to run while dropping money and then his gun. He ran south, jumping over a fence, and when he tried running up a small hill, he fell to his knees. Norris, Beyal and Killingsworth then took him into custody.

While being booked at the police department, the suspect allegedly became ill and was transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital by ambulance. Los Lunas Officer James Rich, who escorted the suspect, said while a nurse was treating the suspect, he removed one handcuff.

When the handcuff was removed, the suspect lunged toward the officer and got his hand on the holster of his sidearm, trying to remove it. Rich took evasive action and was able to fight off the attack, stopping him from removing his gun from the holster.

A suspect, 23-year-old Robert Vasquez, has been indicted on charges including first-degree armed robbery, assault with intent to commit a violent felony, two counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon, assault on a peace officer, attempted disarming of a police officer, resisting, evading or obstruction an officer and possession of a firearm by a felon.

He has also been indicted on charges for another robbery that occurred earlier that night at a Belen motel and for another robbery at a Belen restaurant in September.

Vasquez has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is currently being housed at the Valencia County Detention Center in Los Lunas.

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