Shooting raises questions over self-defense

A bizarre shooting in Belen leaves a former corrections officer dead, and a former Marine in jail charged with his murder.

[givemeabreak]

If you break my window out then I will shoot you too.Let this man out this is self defense.

[Unknown]

They failed to show Gary in his mug shot! Lets compare records between these two men!
AND Louie Gabaldon HAD NO REASON to pull the mother of Gary's son into this. He Is trying to make it seem like Lucas was doing it because of the family, i have one thing to say, LUCAS NEVER MET GARY!

[Good4Him]

What questions? Seems cut and dry to me - good guy won, bad guy lost.

[albuq]

The law only seems to favor criminals anymore. If there was more than one, and they attacked Sanchez, breaking his windows, he acted in self-defense. Where were the police to protect Sanchez when they started after him? He apparently called them. This is ridiculous. If it takes the police 15 minutes to get there (as I've seen here in Abq) and a person can't defend himself, what is he to do, let himself be attacked?

[Wake Up]

so Gary Gabaldon, who was caught with the goods in the truck, evidence of burglary, and assaulting an individual, is innocent based on Louie Gabaldon's statement but Luke is guilty of murdering younger brother, Gary? yeah, family members could and would never do anything like what Gary did. Louie, take off those rose-colored glasses.

[KCB]

Gary Gabaldon is a criminal with a long history of violence. He was arrested for assaulting a POLICE OFFICER! KOBTV you need to check it out before you biasly report on this incident.

There must be a reason why he is a former corrections officer and not a retired one. What happened there?

Gary Gabaldon was obviously a threat to the public. Luke Sanchez has no previous criminal record. He did what anyone would have done if they felt their life was endanger. It's not vigilantism-it was self preservation!

[COKid]

Huh?

[cgg]

Thief caught and killed? Excuse me while I go work up some tears. But don't wait around it could take a while.

[Brath]

Let's see the guy was attacked in his own personal vehicle, and was trying to be forced out of his vehicle for what?? Because this idiot didn't want to be caught and was.. The VCSO, and the media feel that Gabaldon was a victim! Poor bad guy only committed a couple of assaults, and had a record a mile long. But lets just make the good guy look like a ruthless killer because he tried to protect his community, and friends property, not to metion himself..
I'm glad if I had to defend myself I could look forward to a fair accounting of my actions by the law and media... Give me a break!!
Self Defence is called self defence for a reason...

[dcg]

If if your not a cop and you protect yourself you are guilty if your your a cop it's all good! AS LONG AS COP FELLS HE WAS ENDANGERED HE GETS OFF ANYBODY ELSE WHO THOUGHT THERE LIFE WAS ENDANGERED IT'S CALLED MURDER. WHAT A DOUBLE STANDARD!!!

[just wondering]

too bad he couldn't shoot both thieves... don't want to get shot then don't STEAL

[Dean]

The criminals should have no rights when in the midst of committing an illegal act. Funny how KOB interviews the only person they could get which sounds like he has lost touch with reality. His brother doesn't steal YET no explanation as to what his brother was doing when he got killed.

[Silly Me]

It's Belen folks, things are always screwy in Belen.

I say let the Marine go! He has a right to carry a weapon in his vehicle. He has a right to stop and ask questions or check on a suspicious act (not many have the B*A*L*L*S to do so) and he has the right to defend himself. The burglar had rights too, but he gave those up when he decided to conduct himself in a criminal matter and THEN attack an armed citizen. He should have thought that one out.

[prplrose]

Sounds like self defense. Let Sanchez out. No heartbreak over Gary, he was a thief and obviously violent, got caught, attacked, got killed. This is where you rub your hands together and just say, "Done, done, no more bad guy".

[Eltorro]

It would be self-defense if Sanchez was still in the car when he shot. If Sanchez was outside the car it might be a different story altogether. Have to leave this one for the lawyers to figure out. Poor Sanchez, he could be in lots of trouble with NM lawyers.

[Sick Of Stupid]

Common sense says that Lucas , should have put his truck in gear and driven away when the criminals started to head towards him . He decided he was going to make a stand , and some one got killed . running the guy over trying to get away I could understand .Sitting there like that kind of sounds like a ambush to me , especially if the criminals were not brandishing guns .
But by all means lets let mob mentality over shadow the justice system we have in place , yeah that makes great sense , nothing bad can come from that at all ..........

[Mark]

From what we know now I guess any decent citizen would be in jail as well. I would definitely get the license plate/description and if attacked in doing so I would definitely defend myself. I guess us lowly citizens should turn a blind eye as crime gets worse and the police ask for more of our money.

[All Things Considered]

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. As it is, this story has many more questions to be answered.

[Leonard from Rio Arriba]

What's the differance between a cocky cop in a risky high speed chase that kills and innocent man and a good samaritan killing a criminal while stopping a crime? The good samaritan goes to jail, the cocky cop gets administrative time off with pay. Ain't NM justice fair!

[Sick Of Stupid]

Mark wrote:

From what we know now I guess any decent citizen would be in jail as well. I would definitely get the license plate/description and if attacked in doing so I would definitely defend myself. I guess us lowly citizens should turn a blind eye as crime gets worse and the police ask for more of our money.

Now this Marines actions will cost the state even more money than the simple burglary . Instead of one investigation now we have two .Instead of the crime lab having to spend a few minutes collecting and running fingerprints , now they have to deal with a murder investigation .Not to mention that the time and money now spent on this "simple burglary " could have been used for a unpreventable crime already in need of investigation ..........