On Tuesday, Las Cruces Officer Brad Lunsford was booked but not detained in the killing of Presley Eze at a Chevron gas station last year. He has been charged with voluntary manslaughter.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez shared the details during a news conference. Lunsford allegedly shot Eze after an employee from the gas station called 911 to report that Eze had left the store without paying for a beer per the attorney general’s office.
A press release from the attorney general’s office describes the incident in detail:
“Officer Lunsford was the first officer on the scene and began questioning Eze about the situation inside the gas station. After being unable to verify Eze’s identity, Officer Lunsford and another officer forcibly removed Eze from the vehicle in order to detain him. Eze was unarmed and shirtless at the time but nevertheless resisted the officers’ attempt to take him into custody. A scuffle ensued and Eze ended up on the ground, on top of one of the responding officers. During the ongoing struggle Eze placed his hand on the second officer’s taser though it was not cycled or deployed against either officer. In response Officer Lunsford drew his service weapon and shot Eze on the back, left side of his head at point blank range.”
During the conference, Torrez told media “The killing of Presley Eze is a tragedy and serves as yet another example of poor police tactics resulting in an unjustifiable use of force to subdue an individual resisting arrest for the commission of a minor crime.”
A family spokesperson was also present at the news conference and shared that Eze was the oldest son of Nigerian immigrants who resided in Connecticut. In addition, the spokesperson said that Eze worked at a nursing home in Las Cruces.