Honoring APD's Fallen Heroes

Photos from Friday's Memorial Tribute

Nearly 100 Albuquerque Police Officers honored two of their former colleagues at an annual memorial tribute on Friday morning. APD Chief Ray Schultz says the site is used as a classroom for each Police Academy class just before their graduation.

Officer Richard Smith
The City of Albuquerque will be naming it's 6th area command after police officers Michael King and Richard Smith. The beloved officers, the last two killed in the line of duty in the Duke City, were tragically gunned down on August 18th, 2005 by mental patient John Hyde.

Mayor Martin Chavez says construction on the new $7 million dollar facility, which will be located near Cibola High School, is scheduled to begin early next year and be completed by 2011.

Mayor Chavez tells us the Smith and King made the ultimate sacrafice:

They are heroes of Albuquerque.

Officer Michael King
Officers King and Smith were shot and killed while attempting to take Hyde into custody for a mental health evaluation. They were fired upon immediately upon arriving at the scene. Both officers were transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital where they succumbed to their wounds.

Hyde fled the scene on a motorcycle but was located approximately two hours later. He was injured when the motorcycle crashed as officers attempted to stop him.

Hyde was also charged with two murders that had been committed earlier in the evening at a local motorcycle store at a fifth murder of a New Mexico Department of Transportation worker that had occurred that morning.


Officer Smith had served with the Albuquerque Police Department for 22 years. He is survived by his wife and daughter. Officer King had served with the Albuquerque Police Department for 22 years. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

Hyde is now at a state mental hospital in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Udall Endorsed by Las Vegas, NM Newspaper

The Las Vegas Optic has endorsed Tom Udall for United States Senate.

The northern New Mexico newspaper concluded: “Again and again, Udall takes positions that deserve respect. We would be proud to have him as our senator.”

The full endorsement can be read here.

In making its endorsement, the Optic cited several instances in which Udall took a principled position even if it was unpopular at the time.

“While in Congress, Udall has become known as someone who won’t necessarily vote with the herd,” the paper stated. “Back in 2001, he was one of very few who voted against the Patriot Act because it increased the federal government’s surveillance of private citizens. This law passed in the days after Sept. 11 when just about everyone in Washington was willing to support any law labeled as anti-terrorism. It now seems ironic that Pearce would call Udall an extreme liberal. After all, what’s more conservative than insisting on the protection of constitutional rights?”

The newspaper also noted Udall’s consistent opposition to the
Iraq war and his insistence that Los Alamos National Laboratory diversify its mission to meet the demands of a changing world as other principled positions that went against the grain.

At the same time, the Optic noted Steve Pearce’s steady support for President Bush: “Few people would disagree that Bush has been a disaster, and as such, Pearce, who used to brag about his support for Bush, deserves part of the blame.”

Udall has also been endorsed by the Las Cruces Sun-News, the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Los Alamos Monitor.