Search fatalities

Cimmeron Albert Christy

Age : 46

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 09/07/2021

Location : 23 Short Street

City : Moriarty

County : Torrance

State : New Mexico

Agency : Albuquerque Police Department; New Mexico State Police; Torrance County Sheriff’s Office

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during SWAT domestic-violence barricade

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/07/2021, an Albuquerque Police Department SWAT officer shot and killed 46-year-old Cimmeron Albert Christy after an hours-long armed barricade at Christy’s home at 23 Short Street in Moriarty. Torrance County sheriff’s deputies and New Mexico State Police initially responded, with NMSP crisis negotiators and tactical officers and the APD SWAT team subsequently joining the operation.
.
The incident began at approximately 9:54 p.m. on September 6, when Torrance County deputies and New Mexico State Police responded to a domestic-violence call at Christy’s residence. According to the subsequent NMSP investigation, Christy allegedly fired multiple shots from inside the residence toward responding officers. Police withdrew to a safer position and requested tactical and negotiation assistance.
.
Christy’s wife remained inside the residence during the initial portion of the barricade. Before the NMSP Tactical Team arrived, Torrance County deputies established communication with Christy and negotiated her release. She left the residence and was secured in a police vehicle. Negotiations were then transferred to the New Mexico State Police Crisis Negotiations Team.
.
The NMSP Tactical Team arrived in an armored tactical vehicle and positioned it southeast of the house. According to NMSP, Christy subsequently came out on the northwest side of the residence and fired multiple rounds toward police. He then remained armed while negotiators continued attempting to persuade him to surrender.
.
NMSP reported that Christy also made threats to shoot his neighbors. An Albuquerque Police Department SWAT officer then fired at Christy, striking him. The Office of the Medical Investigator pronounced Christy dead at the scene. The state investigation identified the fatal gunfire specifically as coming from one APD SWAT officer; the available account does not report Torrance County deputies or NMSP personnel firing the fatal shots.
.
A nearby resident independently described hearing intermittent gunfire during the prolonged encounter, sometimes several shots at a time, continuing until approximately 1 a.m. The resident also reported receiving a call from State Police directing her to shelter inside her home. KOB reported that the confrontation lasted nearly three hours.
.
New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau conducted the outside investigation of the APD shooting. NMSP stated that its investigators were responsible for collecting evidence and conducting interviews and that investigative findings would be provided to the district attorney. NMSP specifically stated that it acts as a fact-finding agency in police shootings and that the district attorney, rather than NMSP, determines whether an officer’s shooting is legally justified.
.
NMSP initially said the APD SWAT officer’s name would be withheld until interviews were completed. Its September 22 update still did not identify the shooter and instead directed requests for the officer’s identity to APD. A renewed search of later indexed reporting, prosecutorial material and records concerning Christy’s death did not produce a sufficiently verified public identification of the shooter.
.
Christy’s obituary identifies his date of death as September 7, 2021, although the police operation began late on September 6. It also establishes that Christy worked for the New Mexico Department of Transportation for 18 years and most recently worked as an Engineering Technician 3 bridge inspector.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Albuquerque Police Department SWAT officer who shot and killed Cimmeron Christy has not been publicly identified in the records located for this update. Because the shooter’s identity remains unverified, an individual officer-background investigation cannot reliably be attached to this case.
.
AGENCY RECORD
Christy was killed while Albuquerque Police Department remained subject to a federal court-enforceable reform agreement resulting from a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into APD’s use of force. In 2014, DOJ found reasonable cause to conclude that APD engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional excessive force, including deadly force.
.
DOJ specifically found that APD officers too frequently used deadly force against people presenting minimal threats, sometimes in encounters where officers’ own conduct heightened the danger. DOJ also found excessive force in encounters involving people experiencing mental-health crises and identified systemic deficiencies in APD policy, training, supervision, accountability and force investigations.
.
Those findings produced the 2014 court-enforceable settlement requiring extensive reforms to APD’s use-of-force practices, training, supervision, investigations, crisis intervention and accountability. That federal oversight was still active when an APD SWAT officer killed Christy in September 2021.
.
The Christy shooting was therefore not an isolated APD fatality during the federal-reform period. Later reporting examining the department’s record identified Christy among at least 54 people killed by APD between the beginning of the federal settlement era in 2014 and the end of 2023.
.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.dps.nm.gov/blog/2021/09/22/udpate-officer-involved-shooting-involving-the-albuquerque-police-department-in-torrance-county/
https://www.dps.nm.gov/blog/2021/09/07/officer-involved-shooting-involving-the-albuquerque-police-department-in-torrance-county/
https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/nmsp-provides-update-on-officer-involved-shooting-in-moriarty/
https://www.kob.com/archive/apd-officer-shoots-kills-suspect-in-moriarty/
https://www.kob.com/archive/nmsp-releases-new-details-on-deadly-sept-6-officer-involved-shooting-in-moriarty/
https://www.krwg.org/regional/2021-09-22/update-fatal-shooting-involving-the-albuquerque-police-department-in-torrance-county
https://www.kunm.org/kunm-news-update/2021-09-07/tues-new-mexico-police-probe-officer-involved-fatal-shooting-more
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/summary-department-justices-findings-albuquerque-police-department-investigation
https://www.justice.gov/usao/nm/press-releases/2014/Oct/416-%202014-10-31_agreement_reached.html
https://searchlightnm.org/can-the-albuquerque-police-department-ever-be-reformed/