A 52-year-old man has been shot dead in New Mexico after police attended the wrong home following a domestic violence call.
The incident took place at around 11:30 PM on Wednesday (April 5) in Farmington, which is in the Northwestern part of the state.
As per NBC News, the Farmington Police were responding to the call in the city but attended the wrong residence. "Once on scene, officers mistakenly approached," a police statement said.
The officers approached 5305 Valley View Avenue instead of the correct address of 5308 on the same street.
The owner of the residence, 52-year-old Robert Dotson, opened the door armed with a handgun and police fatally shot him.
The correct address is across the street from Dotson's home, and they attempted to ring the doorbell before the 52-year-old answered.
Police have stated that "one or more" officers fired rounds at Dotson, as his wife began firing back from inside the home, but ceased when she became aware that they were law enforcement.
In a video released by Farmington Police, Chief Steve Hebbe acknowledged the mistakes that were made. "Mr. Dotson was not the subject of the call that our officers were responding to, and this ending is just unbelievably tragic," he began.
"I’m extremely sorry that we’re in this position. We’ll find more facts as we go through the investigation. I extend nothing but my deepest condolences to the Dotson family.
"There's nothing I can say that will make this better. It’s a terrible event, and I’m heartbroken by it." Chief Hebbe concluded.
This isn't the first case of officials attending the wrong address, as CNN reported that members of the FBI and the US Army Special Operations Command raided an incorrect hotel room last week.
The FBI revealed that they were assisting the army with training in Boston where they were sent an incorrect hotel room number and ended up detaining a Delta Air Lines employee as opposed to a role player in the exercise.
"First and foremost, we’d like to extend our deepest apologies to the individual who was affected by the training exercise," Lt. Col. Mike Burns told CNN.
CNN law enforcement analyst John Miller revealed: "Conducting special operations in urban environments has always been a training challenge. The only way to replicate those challenges to operational security is to practice in real urban environments."
Though when discussing the verification steps that are usually taken to ensure all address information is correct, Miller added: "The idea is to minimize the chance that you either had the wrong address or the wrong door at the right address.
"These checks usually go up the chain of command to someone on the senior level to review them to make sure all the proper steps have been taken."
Police are expected to release their bodycam footage after they have given statements regarding the killing of Robert Dotson, these are expected next week.
Our thoughts are with Dotson's family and friends at this time.
