Roswell New Mexico Shooting Kills One Person

Roswell Police Department in New Mexico released its statement after the shooting of a man who allegedly refused to drop his weapon. The man, 33-year-old Robert Guerin was shot by an officer.

Read the full statement below:

Roswell Police Department officers responded late last night (Saturday, March 26) to a call of a pickup truck driving erratically and someone in the pickup having pointed a gun from it. Officers located the pickup and conducted a felony traffic stop, which led to a brief standoff with a man with a shotgun. The man refused to obey officers’ orders to drop the weapon and he eventually pointed the gun at officers, resulting in one officer firing a shot that struck and killed the man.

The call to police originated about 11:40 p.m. when someone reported a pickup driving erratically through alleys of a west Roswell neighborhood. Police also learned at least one person had seen someone pointing a gun from the pickup in the 400 block of South Hemlock Avenue.

When officers initiated the traffic stop, the driver of the pickup, later identified as Robert D. Guerin, 33, of Roswell, drove the pickup into the driveway of his residence in the 700 block of South Aspen Avenue and stopped. A lone passenger got out of the pickup and told officers Guerin had a gun. After a short time, Guerin exited the pickup carrying a shotgun. He refused officers’ repeated orders to drop the weapon.

For about 20 minutes, officers attempted to negotiate with Guerin as he moved around the pickup. Guerin then positioned himself behind another nearby vehicle. He held the shotgun on the hood of that vehicle and when he pointed the gun at three officers, one of the officers fired one shot at Guerin, striking and disabling him. Guerin was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The officer who fired the shot is now on administrative leave, which is standard procedure following an officer-involved shooting. The officer has been with RPD for five years. Investigation of this officer-involved shooting – like all incidents of this type involving RPD officers – will be conducted by a joint-agency team made up of members of the New Mexico State Police, Chaves County Sheriff’s Office and Roswell Police Department.