VIDEO: Albuquerque Undercover Officer Critically Wounded in Blue-on-Blue Shooting
An Albuquerque undercover officer was shot and critically wounded Friday afternoon by a fellow officer during an undercover drug operation that reportedly involved the purchase of $60 of methamphetamine. The wounded officer's name has not been released.
Another officer was injured, according to the Albuquerque Journal, but the injuries were minor and the officer was released from the hospital. Police didn’t say how the second officer was injured.
Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said Saturday the wounded officer remained in critical condition at University of New Mexico Hospital. He is in the intensive care unit and has undergone multiple surgeries.
Police haven’t released the name of the officer who was shot, the lieutenant who shot the officer, or the identity of another officer who suffered minor injuries during the operation. Criminal complaints filed in Metropolitan Court against the two targets of the investigation identify the undercover officers as detectives Holly Garcia and Jacob Grant.
"Undercover narcotics work is probably some of the most dangerous work that we do in law enforcement," Eden said during a Saturday news conference. "Due to the nature of those undercover operations it's impractical for those narcotics officers, those narcotics detectives, to wear body armor. It's very impractical for them to wear on-body cameras."
