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Are officer-involved shootings on the rise in Pueblo?
Posted: 01.02.2013 at 8:41 PM
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PUEBLO, COLO. -- Police Chief Luis Velez addressing the New Year's Day officer-involved shooting and a growing number of lethal encounters Wednesday.

The chief starting the press conference by filling in the gaps to Tuesday's shooting that left an officer shot in the shoulder and a suspect dead on the scene.

The early morning crime scene started after officers heard shots fired near 11th and Greenwood.

A short pursuit followed and ended with the vehicle crashing at the 800 block of Craig St., three people then took off on foot.

Two of the suspects, 22-year-old Marquis Robinson and 21-year-old Kenneth Hastings ran eastbound, while 20-year-old Christopher Tavares ran westbound.

Robinson was charged with eluding, resisting arrest and driving under restraint, then booked into the Pueblo County Jail.

Hastings was interviewed and released, Tavares was then shot an hour later.

"The officer was giving him commands and the individual was not following those commands and in fact the individual looked like he was reaching for something and ultimately that lead to the shooting," Chief Luis Velez, of the Pueblo Police Department said.

PPD has since found a weapon adjacent to the area where Tavares was shot.

The use of deadly force in this situation has been questioned by the public so the chief addressed those concerns and said shooting to injure or using a taser in this situation, is "unrealistic in the real world."

"But the circumstances for the use of a taser is not when you're facing a deadly weapon. If the subject has a deadly weapon and he's using that against you, you better use lethal force against that individual, you can't use a taser."

Chief Velez added the department trains constantly including this past quarter ,when their officers participated in Simunition training.  The  training allows officers to simulate real word scenarios with non-lethal ammunition.

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