A Farmington police officer was shot and wounded Friday night by a DWI suspect who remained at large, police said.
Law enforcement officers from several agencies, including police and San Juan County Sheriff’s Office SWAT teams, set up a perimeter and conducted a search but no immediate arrest was made, according to video public information updates posted to Farmington Police Department’s Facebook page.
Police Chief Steve Hebbe said Farmington, San Juan County and state officers were on scene to assist in the search for the suspect.
SWAT teams cleared the area of N. Fairview Avenue and the shelter in place order was lifted, according to a public information update dated 1:15 p.m. on Farmington Police Department’s Facebook page. The update said Hebbe and Farmington City Manager Rob Mayes will release a video update later today.
Farmington police issued a public statement time stamped at 9:45 a.m. on its Facebook page saying the search for the suspect had been limited to a single residence on N. Fairview Avenue.
Police asked residents on N. Fairview Avenue to continue sheltering in place, but a broader shelter in place order that had been applied to the area of between 20th and Main streets in Farmington was lifted mid-morning.
Hebbe said a local McDonalds restaurant donated more than 100 cheeseburgers to officers participating in the midnight hunt.
The officer was hospitalized in good condition in good spirits, Hebbe said.
“The suspect produced a gun and fired at our officer,” Hebbe said in a video posted on the FPD’s Facebook page. “Obviously, we’re looking feverishly for the suspect.”
No identities were released.
“This is what our officers face. These are the dangers they face,” Hebbe said in the video. “So right now you’ve got dozens of officers out ... searching for the suspect, trying to find somebody who’s already shot at our guy, and who already hit our officer, and we’re just lucky that he wasn’t killed.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
