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A little after 11 p.m. Sunday Albuquerque police officers shot and killed a man during “some kind of confrontation” at a West Side gas station.

The man was later identified as 27-year-old Keshawn Thomas. Police say a gun was found at the scene.

Police Chief Harold Medina, speaking during an early morning news conference outside the scene, said officers were called for a “down and out” at the Valero Gas Station on Coors and Quail NW at 11:15 p.m.

The officers had been speaking with someone at the nearby intersection so when the call came in they were able to immediately walk over.

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“The individual was inside a vehicle,” Medina said. “They thought the individual may be intoxicated and passed out.”

Medina said the officers had Thomas step out of the car and as they were speaking with him he began to smoke a cigarette so they asked him to step away from the gas pumps toward the sidewalk.

“At a point in time the individual did re-enter the vehicle,” Medina said. “Some kind of confrontation occurred between the officer and the individual and multiple officers fired shots.”

Thomas was taken to the hospital, where he died.

Medina said a firearm and magazines that did not belong to officers were found at the scene.

In response to questions, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman said he did not know how many officers were at the scene during the call nor how many shot at Thomas.

He said details about the firearm – including about where it was found and whether Thomas reached for it or pointed it at the officers – are being investigated.

“We probably won’t have more information until they are able to review video and see exactly what occurred, what conversations occurred,” Medina said.

Early Monday morning, crime scene investigators could be seen photographing the scene, including more than a dozen evidence markers. The green Dodge Challenger Thomas had been in was still stopped at the pump, now roped off with crime scene tape.

The Journal could not reach Thomas’ family members on Monday. His only prior charge was a DWI from 2018 that was dismissed because deadlines were not met.

Thomas attended Central New Mexico Community College off and on from the fall of 2013 to the end of the 2017 spring term with a declared major of welding, according to a CNM spokesman.

This is the 12th time APD officers have shot at someone in 2022.

However, that includes one case where a man killed himself and three other cases where they fired at someone but didn’t hit them. In all, APD officers have killed seven people this year and injured one.

By contrast, in all of 2021 APD officers fired at people 10 times. Four of those people were killed, five were injured and in one case the officers missed.