Police in New Mexico released footage of officers shooting a man dead after responding to the wrong address for a domestic violence call. The victim, Robert Dotson, died at the scene after pointing a firearm at the officers, while his wife fired shots moments later.
The Farmington Police Department released body camera videos and 911 audio of the incident on April 5, in which three officers knocked on the door of the wrong house. They were responding to a call about domestic violence from 5308 Valley View Ave but footage shows the officers arriving at a house marked “5305″.
The footage shows the officers knocking on the door several times and identifying themselves. The officers then request confirmation of the address from dispatch and discuss whether they are at the wrong house. Moments later, a man opens the door and points a firearm at the officers before they draw and immediately fire their weapons.
A woman later identified as Dotson’s wife appears at the door about a minute later and more shots are fired. Police said she fired a gun at the officers. The department said the names of the three officers involved, which were redacted from the footage and audio, could not be released due to the ongoing investigation.
It remains unclear why the officers, who are on paid leave for the length of the investigation, approached the wrong address, police said. About 40 percent of US households have guns, according to the Pew Research Center. There were an estimated 44,000 gun-related deaths in the United States last year, about half of them murder cases, accidents and self-defense, and half of them suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive database.
