ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A 19-year-old woman suspected of stealing a truck and who was shot and killed by Albuquerque police had a high concentration of methamphetamine in her system and was shot three times, a newly released autopsy report showed.
The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator released the report Friday and ruled that Mary Hawkes died from three gunshot wounds to the head, neck and chest. All three bullets were fired left to right and downward during the April 21 shooting, the report said.
One bullet entered her left ear and exited the right side of her neck, then struck her right shoulder. A second bullet hit her left upper arm and passed into of her chest, where it broke a rib and struck her left lung. The third bullet hit the top of the right shoulder and came out of the upper part of her right arm
A toxicology report showed that Hawkes also had meth in her body when she died.
Police have been unable to recover video footage from an officer’s body camera of the shooting.
Critics said the lack of information is causing more distrust of Albuquerque police amid 39 police shootings since 2010 and pending U.S. Justice Department reforms.
Court records show Hawkes had two previous run-ins with the law as an adult, one for drinking in public and another for shoplifting, according to the Albuquerque Journal. As a juvenile, she was charged in 2011 with attempted criminal sexual contact of a child under 13. She was convicted of a lesser battery offense and sentenced to two years of probation.
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