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By Sarah Roebuck
Police1
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Gunfire from an intense shootout following a pursuit narrowly missed two officers in patrol vehicles, body camera footage from the Las Cruces Police Department shows.
On June 21, officers were made aware of a pursuit involving New Mexico State Police and a sport utility vehicle driven by a suspect, identified as Bobby Charles Crawford.
Police said Crawford had warrants out for his arrest and was failing to stop for troopers.
Las Cruces Police assisted NMSP in the pursuit which ended with a PIT maneuver.
Crawford then fired multiple rounds at the officers while barricading himself in the SUV. Crawford discharged several rounds that entered the front window on the passenger side of a marked police vehicle. Additionally, some of the rounds fired by Crawford entered the windshield of another marked unit occupied by a second officer, police said.
Both officers narrowly missed being struck by gunfire and received relatively minor injuries from glass shrapnel.
“When it says narrowly missing him, we’re talking inches from the sergeant’s head,” Las Cruces Police Department’s Interim Police Chief Jeremy Story said during a news conference.
Officers then returned fire, striking Crawford at least once.
No major injuries were reported by the officers.
Crawford is incarcerated in El Paso and awaiting extradition to New Mexico where he is charged with two felony counts of attempted murder and three counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer. He also faces one count each of aggravated fleeing, possession of a firearm by a felon, and shooting at or from a motor vehicle.
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