New Mexico's attorney general announced this week that a Las Cruces police officer has been charged with voluntary manslaughter over an officer-involved shooting at a gas station last summer.
NBC reports Officer Brad Lunsford was booked Tuesday, but officials did not detain him, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez told reporters at a news conference.
Lunsford shot Presley Eze at a Chevron gas station on the afternoon of Aug. 2, 2022 after an employee called 911 to report that Eze had left the store without paying for a beer, according to the attorney general's office.
Lunsford questioned Eze and, after he was "unable to verify Eze's identity," the officer "forcibly removed Eze from the vehicle in order to detain him," the attorney general's office said in a news release.
Eze, who was unarmed and shirtless, allegedly resisted attempts to take him into custody. The attorney general's office said a "scuffle ensued," with Eze ending up on the ground, on top of one of Lunsford and another officer who responded.
Eze put his hand on the second officer's taser and, in response, Lunsford drew his service weapon and shot Eze on the left side of his head at point-blank range, according to the news release.
“The killing of Presley Eze is a tragedy and serves as yet another example of poor police tactics resulting in an unjustifiable use of force to subdue an individual resisting arrest for the commission of a minor crime,” Attorney General Torrez said in a statement. “As New Mexico’s chief law enforcement officer, I have a duty to hold everyone accountable for violations of the law and that includes police officers who cross the line.”
