ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – He shot an Albuquerque police officer outside of a notorious convenience store on east Central Ave. Now, the man at the center of the case will likely spend decades in federal prison. The shooting happened in December 2023, after an Albuquerque Police Department license plate reading camera spotted a stolen car. Shots rang out when officers moved in on the car at Adams Food Market on Central near Wyoming.
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Surveillance camera video captured that shooting, showing as officers boxed in Santiago Perez’s car. Perez got out and shot at officers twice. APD Officer Zachary Garris was hit in his hands, with the bullet lodging in one of them. Perez then tried to run from the scene before another officer shot Perez in the arm and leg.
Inside the stolen car Perez was driving, investigators found ammunition for the gun and a backpack filled with meth and fentanyl. Perez’s case was eventually taken up by federal prosecutors. In May, he pleaded guilty to drug and gun charges…