Albuquerque, New Mexico police fired four shots at 37-year-old Andy Snider after he charged at them with a hammer. The event took place on December 8 and police have just released the video from their lapel camera.
Officers Nathan Cadroy and Hector Marquez responded to a reported fight at the gas station at the intersection of University and Central. Snider, who was a convicted felon, refused to follow police orders while shouting, "I am Yahweh!" and next ran away.
Police chased him on foot into the alley behind a Dunkin Donuts near Gold Ave. and Mesa St. SE. The police cornered Snider in a garage and one officer is heard on the police lapel video ordering the other officer to, "Beanbag him! Beanbag him!"
Officer Cadroy shot him four times with a non-fatal beanbag shotgun but Snider didn't stop. Armed with a hammer, he ran toward Cadroy and Officer Marquez reacted by firing at him four times with his handgun. Police followed Snider into the street where he collapsed, yet still refused to drop the hammer. He later died at the hospital.
The police chief at the time, Allen Banks, defended the officers' actions referring to the hammer as a "deadly weapon." Snider was one of the 21 people shot and killed by the APD since 2010. Since November of 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating the APD's use of deadly force.
