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Santa Fe, New Mexico---State Police took over the investigation and say 24-year-old Anthony Benavidez was being evicted from his apartment near St. Francis Drive and Siringo Road.
They say he returned and broke into his old place. Social workers who had been helping him and Santa Fe police were called. When they went to his door, police say Benavidez stabbed a social worker, who is OK.
The SWAT team then surrounded the apartment. Police say Benavidez threw two improvised explosive devices at officers.
Officers moved in and fired, killing Benavidez. State Police is still investigating why officers fired.
Benavidez has no criminal record.
Santa Fe Police said on Wednesday night that five officers are on paid leave after a deadly shooting at an apartment complex.
“It’s just scary, very scary,” said resident Paula Salazar.
“They just like blocked everything off right here and told us to get inside,” said resident Angela Luna.
Neighbors watched around 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning as Santa Fe Police surrounded an apartment at the Tuscany at St. Francis complex near St. Francis Drive and Siringo Road.
“We could hear them on the microphone telling them to surrender,” Luna said.
“He barricaded himself in the apartment. They were trying to get him to come out, and he wouldn’t come out,” said resident April Willis.
Investigators said Santa Fe Police got to the apartment after a 911 call about a stabbing.
Police said the victim went to the hospital and is stable, but police fired shots, killing the suspect.
“I thought it was about seven shots that I heard fired and then that was it,” Luna said.
State Police is investigating the officer-involved shooting and hasn’t said why Santa Fe officers fired, or whether the suspect was still armed with a knife.
State Police said the agency intentionally did not want to release that information because the officers involved have not yet been interviewed and they don’t want to influence those officers’ accounts of what happened.
Santa Fe Police said 13 that five officers are on paid leave, but a spokesperson said that doesn’t mean all five fired their guns.
Some may be witnesses, according to SFPD spokesperson Greg Gurule.