Farmington police identify man in officer involved shooting

Farmington, N.M. – Today, Farmington police identified the man who was shot Wednesday, January 20, as 46-year-old Humberto Vasquez from Farmington.

On January 20, around 9:47 a.m., the Farmington Police Department responded to a man, later identified as Vasquez, armed with a gun breaking into neighboring apartments and battering residents in the 1000 block of Glade Lane. As officers arrived, Vasquez barricaded himself inside his apartment and began breaking out the windows. He eventually tossed a gun and magazine out of one of the broken windows and started to pour gasoline over himself and the inside of the apartment. Officers began evacuating the neighboring apartments and continued to negotiate with him. Vasquez stepped out of the apartment and threw a bottle containing gas at the officers before going back inside. Later, he exited the apartment again, and as he threw a Molotov cocktail at them officers fired. Officers immediately rendered aid to him and called for paramedics. He was transported to the San Juan Regional Medical Center, where he is now  stable and recovering. There were no other injuries at the scene. The Farmington Fire Department quickly mitigated the fire hazards at the location.

The incident remains under investigation, and further information will be provided as it becomes available. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, the primary investigating agency, at 505-334-6107.