Special Officer Luis Abeita

Luis Abeita

Special Officer Luis Abeita succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained six days earlier while attempting to arrest a man who had shot a teenager moments earlier.

The man shot the teen in the back due to an argument they had been involved in. Officer Abeita located the subject near a bridge along the tracks 100 yards north of the railroad station and attempted to arrest him. The man opened fire, wounding Officer Abeita in the hand and abdomen, before fleeing into the nearby bosk.

A posse of local, state, and federal officers responded to the area from Albuquerque and located the man in the bosk. The man was killed during an ensuing shootout.

Officer Abeita was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Albuquerque, where he succumbed to his wounds six days later.

Officer Abeita had served with the Pueblo of Isleta Police Department for 16 years and also served as a special officer with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Police Department. He was survived by his wife and five children.