Officer John Arthur Carrillo, 27, of the Albuquerque Police Department was killed in the line of duty on February 22, 1987. He and another officer were investigating a domestic violence call at 4613 Hilltop Place NE after a woman reported she had been beaten. The male resident initially denied anyone else was present but invited the officers to search the house. As they followed him upstairs he produced a briefcase containing a 9 mm handgun and opened fire.

Carrillo, not wearing a bulletproof vest, was struck in the chest. The other officer pulled him out of the line of fire and returned fire; that officer later received the department’s Medal of Valor. The shooter, identified as a physicist employed at Sandia National Laboratories, was arrested and charged with murder and multiple counts of attempted murder. Carrillo’s belt-mounted tape recorder captured the incident and was used to dispute the shooter’s claim of self-defense. After two trials the defendant was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison; his appeal for a new trial was denied in 1995.

Carrillo had served six years with the department, wore badge number 547, and was survived by an infant son, his parents, and six siblings. Does anyone have memories of Officer Carrillo or information about his family that could add to his story?