Albuquerque police describe fatal shooting of man who barricaded himself in shed

September 13 – Police spent hours trying to persuade Derek Pickett to surrender from a shed, calling him 50 times. At the end of the standoff, Pickett grabbed the phone and held a gun to his head with his other hand.

At the same time, a SWAT officer fired a fatal bullet while other officers fired a less fatal bullet and a flash grenade at Pickett.

The 44-year-old died at the scene of the accident.

On Friday, Albuquerque police described the fatal shooting of Pickett on Aug. 17. The shooting began when an officer chased him after he committed shoplifting and escalated when Pickett, according to police, pulled out a gun and told the officer he “can't go back to jail.”

APD Commander Kyle Hartsock said Officer Truitt Bushnell exchanged shots with Pickett after initially barricading himself in the cabin, but no one was hit. Hartsock said Officer Robert Sanchez fired the fatal shot several hours later.

He said Bushnell, who joined the APD in 2023, has not returned to duty, but Sanchez – who has been with the APD since 2015 and killed two men in previous shootings – is back on duty.

The incident was APD's ninth shooting this year and sixth fatal.

Police Chief Harold Medina reiterated earlier statements, saying it was of great concern to him that the suspect had pointed a gun at officers for other lesser crimes, such as car theft and shoplifting. He said escalation combined with drug use, as was found with Pickett using methamphetamine, “are two very big recipes for tragedy.”

“We hate to see a shoplifting incident escalate to this extent, but at the same time, our officers have a job to do, and as these individuals' actions escalate, our officers' responses will escalate as well,” Medina said.

Hartsock said around 2:20 p.m., an officer was pursuing him on an unrelated matter after Pickett stole $47 worth of merchandise from a Family Dollar store on Broadway SE, south of Coal. During the pursuit, Pickett dropped the stolen merchandise and showed the pursuing officer that he had a gun before fleeing into the neighborhood.

According to APD, a landscaper told officers he saw Pickett run into a shed in a backyard in the 400 block of Arno SE, a few blocks northeast of the Family Dollar. Officer Bushnell and other officers surrounded the yard and tried to get Pickett to surrender.

“We're police officers out here and we're just as worried as you are. I understand this is scary and frustrating, but we can get past this man. Talk to me,” Bushnell tells Pickett in a video.

Bushnell told Pickett he didn't want to shoot him when Pickett asked them to let him go, but Bushnell told Pickett that wasn't possible, according to the video. Pickett then fires a shot, and Bushnell fires back before telling officers he wasn't hit.

“Hey man, please stop shooting at me,” Bushnell said to Pickett.

APD said around 4:16 p.m., the SWAT team took control and tried 50 times over the next few hours to make contact using a phone on the shed door so Pickett could speak to police, “but Pickett never responded.” At 6:25 p.m., Pickett opened the shed door and grabbed the phone, with a gun in his other hand.

In the split-screen video from the APD drone camera and the video from Officer Sanchez's lapel, Pickett could be seen putting the gun to his own head and keeping it there while saying something police could not understand. While Pickett was holding the gun to his head, Sanchez could be seen releasing the safety on his rifle and firing a single shot.

Drone footage shows Pickett immediately starting to scream and then falling to the ground shortly afterward, while other officers fired a less-lethal foam grenade and a flashbang at Pickett. As Pickett lay motionless on the ground, Sanchez yelled, “Stop or I'll shoot you again.”

Hartsock said Sanchez later told investigators he saw Pickett “reveal a firearm in his right hand and begin to raise it from his hip, aiming it at … the SWAT team members because they believed the suspect was going to shoot him and other officers.”

He said the gun Pickett was carrying was one he bought in 2020 and was not involved in any other shootings. Hartsock said a pipe and methamphetamine were also found on Pickett.

Medina said one lesson from the incident is: Lock your shed.

“All of us, as ordinary citizens, can help our officers avoid these situations if we just think about it… Today I'm going to lock my shed, and today I urge everyone in Albuquerque, if you want to help our officers avoid these deadly situations and hopefully maybe one day save an officer's life, take the time to go outside and just lock your shed,” he said.