Albuquerque police indicate they are still awaiting the results from toxicology reports to determine if drugs or alcohol played a role in a deadly officer shooting earlier this summer.
Investigators now say that 43-year-old Wendel Tagle was in the midst of suffering a mental health crisis in late July when he attacked his wife inside their apartment and later clashed with officers.
“She described her husband beginning to speak to imaginary people inside the apartment, and she tried to leave because she started to become afraid of Wendel,” Albuquerque Police Department Deputy Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock told KOB 4 recently.
At that point, authorities said Tagle’s wife grabbed a gun and someone fired, the KOB 4 report said. From there, things quickly escalated, and officers said Tagle grabbed the gun and shot his wife in the leg. A neighbor called 911, and APD officers arrived shortly thereafter. Following a brief standoff, police said Tagle pointed his gun at them, prompting one officer to fire six shots, killing Tagle.
APD Chief Harold Medina noted that the circumstances surrounding the shooting are becoming far too common.
“It’s important that we really start recognizing and educating the community on the intersections that we’re seeing, the intersection of mental health officer-involved shootings we’ve seen this past year,” he told KOB 4.
Officers said they responded to another domestic dispute call between the couple of 14 years less than 24 hours before the shooting took place.
“During that call, they discussed the mounting stress in the relationship and in their workplace,” Hartsock said.
Later that same day, Albuquerque Community Safety Department members met with the couple and noticed that the husband appeared to be suffering from a lack of sleep. They added that there was, however, no evidence to indicate he might turn violent.
“Unfortunately, in this situation, the past was not able to predict what he would do in the future," Mariela Ruiz-Angel, Community Safety Department director, told KOB 4.
APD said the officer who fired the deadly shots was involved in another officer-involved shooting in 2018. He is reportedly now back on duty.