February 08, 2012

NM cops kill homicide suspect after crash

Deputies and State Police officers responded to a call from Catherine Sampson-Brannon, who said her estranged husband Wes Brannon was at her door with a gun

By Matt Andazola
Albuquerque Journal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A man who was a suspect in a fatal shooting in Albuquerque on Tuesday died in Mora County after being shot by county deputies and State Police.

Deputies and State Police officers responded to a call from Catherine Sampson-Brannon, who said her estranged husband Wes Brannon was at her door with a gun, according to a statement from the State Police. Just before calling them, according to the statement, Sampson-Brannon was on the phone with Albuquerque Police detectives who were asking where Brannon was, because he was the suspect in the death of Greg Miller.

Brannon left before deputies arrived.

But as deputies were helping her out of her home near Mora, Sampson-Brannon saw her husband driving toward them. Brannon rammed a parked deputy car nearby, and officers fired on him, the statement said.

After firing on the vehicle, officers commanded Brannon to get out but he didn't, and after officers secured the scene and approached him once more, they discovered he had died, according to the statement.

The statement doesn't say whether Brannon died from gunshot wounds or from the crash. Calls to State Police were not returned Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a violent crimes call about 7 a.m. after finding a man's body in a neighborhood near Menaul and Pennsylvania NE. A Journal photographer on scene reported that the body was in the front yard of a house.

At the time, APD said a man shot and killed a neighbor he believed was sleeping with his wife.

"We believe this is a relationship situation gone bad," said Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz.

APD cannot confirm the identities of Brannon or Miller that were released by State Police pending Office of the Medical Investigator results, said APD spokesman Robert Gibbs.