Victim’s friend: Shooting was ‘suicide by cop’
GALLUP
A friend of the victim in Sunday’s fatal police shooting says it may have been “suicide by cop.”
New Mexico State Police are investigating the fatal shooting of Alvin Silversmythe, 29, of Gallup by Gallup police officers early Sunday morning.
Silversmythe’s death is the first fatal police shooting in Gallup since 2003.
Both the state police and the Gallup Police have released only a few details of what happened that morning.
According to their statements, Gallup Police were called to the 300 block of Arnold Street because of a report about a man threatening people with a knife.
When they got to the scene, they found Silversmythe in the alleyway with a knife in each hand. During the confrontation, several police officers were on scene when Silversmythe reportedly lunged at them, causing them to shoot.
He was pronounced dead at the Gallup Indian Medical Center.
Although there were as many as six or seven witnesses to the shooting, there are no videos, something that is uncommon in these days when most police shootings are taped by witnesses using their cell phones.
None of the witnesses have come forward to report that police used excessive force in this incident. Two of them, in fact, said police had no choice because it appeared that Silversmythe was trying to commit “suicide by cop.”
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