Three bystanders shot during gunfight between police and suspect outside gas station

Nov. 12—Three bystanders were shot when several officers exchanged gunfire with a man outside a gas station Monday evening in Northeast Albuquerque.

All three people are expected to survive, although one was seriously injured, according to Gilbert Gallegos, Albuquerque Police Department spokesman.

The suspect, 30-year-old Anthony Hernandez, died at the scene. Hernandez fired one bullet at police, Gallegos said.

Investigators are trying to determine whose bullets struck the bystanders — two who were in a car that was caught in the crossfire and a 68-year-old man standing near Hernandez, Gallegos said.

One of the bystanders later was booked into jail after police say a bag of fentanyl fell out of his pocket while doctors treated him at a hospital.

Police were initially called out because Hernandez was pointing a gun at a child who turned out to be his daughter. The girl was not injured in the ensuing gunfire, Gallegos said.

Officers responded around 6 p.m. to the Speedway gas station on San Mateo NE, along Interstate 25. Callers to 911 reported a man waving a gun and "pointing it at a child," Gallegos said.

Officers found Hernandez outside the gas station and told him to drop his gun.

"Hernandez raised both hands with the gun in his right hand," Gallegos said. "He turned to walk away, then turned and fired his gun in the direction of officers."

The bullet Hernandez fired struck a car with two people inside that was in the crossfire. Officers returned fire, killing Hernandez and sending several bullets into the same car, Gallegos said.

When the dust settled, two people in the car and a 68-year-old man standing near Hernandez were struck by gunfire.

A man in the car was shot in the fingers and a woman was shot in the arm. Gallegos said the other man was struck in the torso and he was "expected to survive his wound."

Investigators with the Multi-Agency Task Force "are working to determine which gunshots injured the man walking with Hernandez and the two people in the car," Gallegos said.

The shooting was the third time that bystanders, or another officer, have been shot when Albuquerque police opened fire on a suspect or someone else in the past two years.

In June 2023, officers unloaded 16 rounds at Jeramiah Salyards as he stood wielding a knife amid a group of people. Salyards was killed, and two men were also shot, one of them severely injured.

Last month, officer Jeff Schwarzel was struck by a bullet from a fellow officer when police shot and killed a man in southeast Albuquerque.