NMSP detectives brought their Crime Scene Unit to the Pajarito Cliffs Site Saturday to investigate the scene of a local shooting incident. Photo by Maire O’Neill/ladailypost.com

New Mexico State Police are continuing their investigation of an incident early Saturday morning at the Pajarito Cliffs Site east of the airport during which one or more Los Alamos Police Department officers fired shots. There were no injuries during the incident.

LAPD officers were conducting undercover surveillance at Los Alamos County buildings due to several recent burglaries and the theft of a County vehicle when the incident occurred. Because shots were fired, Chief of Police Dino Sgambellone opted to call in NMSP to conduct the investigation.

Information released by NMSP indicated that at around 3:30 a.m., LAPD undercover officers observed a gray Jeep Patriot entering the parking lot near Building 5. A male passenger dressed in black and holding bolt cutters exited the vehicle and approached the secured locked area.

“Officers in marked units with emergency equipment engaged approached the vehicle and gave commands for the male subject to stop and show his hands. The male suspect did not comply and ran to the passenger seat of the Jeep, which began to flee the scene. At that time, shots were fired by at least one LAPD officer,” the NMSP report states.

The Jeep fled from officers onto N.M. 502  and LAPD officers pursued it all the way to Corlett Road in Espanola where the vehicle crashed.

According to NMSP, two male subjects, the driver and passenger, fled into a wooded area and were never located by the officers. A search warrant for the vehicle was obtained from First Judicial District Judge T. Glenn Ellington who drove to Pojoaque to deliver it to the officer. The Jeep, which was later confirmed stolen, was towed to the Los Alamos Police Department and later to NMSP in Santa Fe for investigation.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, state and local law enforcement continued to work on the investigation. LAPD has not released the names of the officers present at the incident.