FBI agent is wounded, man killed in NE ABQ shooting
Jul. 15—An FBI agent was wounded and a man was killed in a shooting Wednesday as authorities served a search warrant at a strip mall in Northeast Albuquerque.
FBI spokesman Frank Fisher said the agent, whose bulletproof vest was struck by gunfire, is "doing OK" and expected to survive. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fisher did not identify the agent or the man who was killed, and he would not say whether any other suspects were detained or involved.
"Because this is an ongoing investigation, there are very few details I can provide at this time," Fisher said. "Like all FBI shootings, this one will be thoroughly investigated."
Ursula Floyd identified the man slain as her son, 31-year-old Marquez Floyd, a father of three.
"Right now, I'm just so lost. This is just so overwhelming," she said. "I really can't believe my baby's gone."
Fisher said FBI agents and task force officers were serving multiple search warrants around 11 a.m. at a strip mall near Northeastern and Wyoming NE when the incident occurred.
Fisher would not say if the warrants — which were related to a violent crime investigation — were being served at a business or elsewhere.
He said when agents tried to make an arrest, a shooting ensued with a suspect in the alleyway behind the strip mall.
"I will say, unfortunately, we do have experience with these sort of shootings. They seem to be happening more often lately," Fisher said. "We wish they didn't, but we are developing an expertise and the public can rest assured we will leave no stone unturned."
Albuquerque police have almost been shot twice over the past 10 days — on July 5, when a man who stole a bait car fired at pursuing officers, and last Saturday, when an officer responding to a call had gunfire strike his windshield, injuring him with shattered glass.
Last December, an FBI agent was grazed by a bullet when a man fired at authorities through his front door as they tried to serve a search warrant.
'So unbelievable'
Ursula Floyd said her daughter called her son moments before the bullets flew.
"She called him and he was like 'they're about to pull me over' and she heard them say 'FBI' and then she heard shooting," she said. Afterward, the line went dead.
In the hours that followed, Floyd said authorities came to the home her son shared with his sister and searched it.
"The house is a mess; I don't know too much more information after that," she said. Floyd said she doesn't think they seized anything from the home.
She said her son had been in trouble before, but served his time and moved on.
Court records show Marquez Floyd pleaded guilty to armed robbery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in 2010 after being accused of stealing a man's phone and gold necklace, and hitting him with a gun. He was sentenced to four years and was released from probation in 2019.
Ursula Floyd said her son, a "jokester" and one of three siblings, grew up in Clovis and settled down in Albuquerque in 2015. She said he started his own kennel in 2016 and bred American bullies, participating in dog shows and making music in a studio on the side.
Ursula Floyd said her daughter called her son moments before the bullets flew.
"He loved his music and his dog and his babies," she said, adding that her son had a 4-year-old son and 2-year-old twins.
"He was very loving," Floyd said. "He always tried to take care of everybody, put everyone before himself."
She said she spoke with her son Monday night and everything was fine. Floyd said her son had carried a gun for protection in the past but she can't imagine him firing one at authorities.
She said she has tried to get answers on what happened with no luck.
"I'm so ... this is just so unbelievable right now," she said, choking up. "Just trying to soak everything in, it's just still unbelievable."
'Really big guns'
Numerous FBI agents and Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputies in tactical vests could be seen Wednesday afternoon crowding the parking lot and streets around the strip mall south of a Walmart.
The area was crisscrossed with crime scene tape and authorities were most concentrated behind the strip mall where the tape blocked the alleyway and state police and BCSO mobile crime labs idled as investigators walked the scene.
Irma Herrera, a nearby neighbor, spoke with another woman across the street as the two watched the investigation unfold.
Herrera said she was inside her apartment watching TV when she heard several loud pops.
"I thought, 'What the heck was that?' " she said. "They sounded like really big guns."
Herrera said she then heard multiple people yelling "get down" over and over. When she went outside, she said she saw at least 10 agents and deputies with long rifles walking down the alleyway behind the cash store.
Herrera said ambulances and firefighters arrived shortly after but then left without taking anyone.
"I didn't see them pull anybody out," she said.
