Special Officer Luis Abeyta

Luis Abeyta

Special Officer Luis Abeyta succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained on January 6th, 1921, while attempting to arrest a man who had shot a teenager moments earlier.

The man shot the teen in the back due to an argument they had been involved in. Officer Abeyta located the subject near a bridge along the tracks 100 yards north of the railroad station and attempted to arrest him. The man opened fire, wounding Officer Abeyta in the hand and abdomen, before fleeing into the nearby bosk.

A posse of local, state, and federal officers responded to the area from Albuquerque and located the man in the bosk. The man was killed during an ensuing shootout.

Officer Abeyta was taken to a hospital in Albuquerque where he died on January 12th, 1921.

Officer Abeyta had served with the Pueblo of Isleta Police Department for 16 years and also served as a special officer with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Police Department. He was survived by his wife and five children.